


Radiant Future

by GintaxAlvissforever



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Attempted Murder, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bestiality, Blackmail, Child Soldiers, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Drama & Romance, Dramedy, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Friendship, Genocide, Gore, Implied Relationships, Kidnapping, M/M, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Pedophilia, Psychological Torture, Sexual Tension, Slavery, Suspense, Underage Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2018-10-24 11:12:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 46,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10740546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GintaxAlvissforever/pseuds/GintaxAlvissforever
Summary: Post Radiant Dawn. With the Goddess beaten, everyone goes back to their lives. The Greil Mercenaries are thinking on moving with their lives. While he won't admit it, Shinon wishes for one more grand adventure before everyone goes their separate ways and he gets his wish, but could this wish be the true end to Tellius?





	1. One's Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> Just so you know this is one of the few FE fics I had written in the past (that isn't done) and is prone to little updates. Because its an old fic, expect OOC and bad grammar (even though I have attempted to clean it up) and not so likable OCs. Enjoy!
> 
> One of the important edits FYI is that the Mokona Tribe is just changed to Usagi Tribe. This way the name isn't ripping off of CLAMP and it's not exactly the Taguel of Awakening (even though I said rabbit tribe first before Awakening was a thing). I won't change their appearance though, so in rabbit form they are big, fat and squishy rabbits compared to the big ones in Awakening.

_Gods. What are they really? Are they heavenly beings that can do whatever they please, or are they the same as the rest of us? I think the answer was obvious when Ashera, the Goddess of Tellius, was defeated by a band of people who resisted her judgement. It was amazing. The Goddess failed to end this world. What surprised me more was my best friend, the one who understood me, Lehran, was spared by them despite orchestrating everything around them. Why would they spare him? I will never know._

_Peace between Beroc and Laguz. Why should both races live in harmony when one is different from the other? Why couldn't these people see that Laguz will never live alongside Beroc? They are different though I shouldn't be talking._

_What surprised me the most is that the one Laguz tribe stayed out of the fight from the Mad King War and the war after that. They are too good. Even if judgement was given to everyone, this race would have survived and undo what the Goddess had done. Those monsters._

_Now, I feel it is time to expose them after all of these years. They think they could hide from both Beroc and Laguz after the Serenes Massacre? Unlikely. Their leader is starting to act up and I must put him in his place as that ruler has the power to stop Tellius from falling into another war._

_I wonder how I can get him to come out into the open. I think the only thing I can do is ask for some assistance and I got many of them. One of them can even foresee the future. If he can tell me the secret of how to defeat the king, then Tellius will fall into another war and this world is done. I can't wait to put my plan into action._

* * *

_So, the Goddess Ashera was defeated by Yune and her followers. How cool is that? I mean, I knew that Yune would come through but it was somewhat disappointing. I was planning to make myself known to her during the fight but since everything was under control, I had no need. Of course, a petrified world was good for me and my right hand sweetie because we could move around Tellius and not worry about being detected. Heck, the leader of the Hawk King...what was his name? Oh yeah! They call him Tibarn! He didn't see nor hear us when we spied on their group. Yes, we focused on their group when they were traveling to the tower of guidance but for what reason? It was simple. I felt lonely and maybe there was someone among them that I could possibly speak to. I did find a person that could understand us, but I wouldn't dare to speak to him. He would speak to the king and I would be exposed and have to join this pointless fight, so I stayed quiet and hid in the shadows. You might say I was stalking that person._

_Of course, I switched to the group with the dragons in it. I think the leader or rather the Hero of Tellius is named Ike. I was watching them too and it wasn't easy. They were alert and I could have sworn that they could have seen me. Good thing they didn't go after me though. There, I saw the one person that might be the one I'm looking for. Again, I didn't speak to him mainly because he was Beroc but that didn't mean that I hated him. I think I met him somewhere before but I don't know where. Hmm..._

_Anyway, I feel like this new crisis will begin and I won't be able to hide this time. Neither will my right hand women. It's a pain in the ass to think that this guy who didn't even fight in the war will try to destroy me and he'll use my people to do so. As much as I hate fighting against my own tribe, it looks like I got no choice, but to those that weren't captured though, I have to reunite them and that one Beroc is the only chance I have in reuniting them all. I have to give a sign soon or the Beast Tribe will pay dearly for my delayed actions._

* * *

_A Goddess defeated? How is that possible? It sounded so unreal but it was a miracle. People were saved because of a few that were not affected by Ashera's judgement. Beroc and Laguz are amazing when they work together to create harmony. That's the type of place Tellius should be. Everyone should get along._

_That won't happen though. People think it's over, but its not. There is someone out there that is planning to ruin everything for his greedy goal. I hate fighting but I have to step in. If I want to see a smile on a child's face, I'll do what I hate. On the bright side, I might see everyone again and possibly meet the Maiden of Dawn...or the Queen of Daein. I heard she was beautiful and had a handsome husband to support her._

_They both must be having it rough keeping Daein together but they must see that even when you save everyone, there will always be selfish people that will take away one's happiness. The happiness of our tribe._

_That is why, I will spread by wings and my song across the continent hoping to keep peace. Maybe...just maybe...I can find the remaining herons that survived the massacre..._

* * *

_I'm bored. There's nothing to do anymore now that we defeated the so called Goddess Ashera. I seriously doubt that she was even a Goddess. To be honest, I don't believe in that crap. I think they were all powerful sages that were pretending to be a God...that's the crappiest excuse I can come up with, but what do you expect from me?_

_So our courageous leader dealt the final blow to her and then everyone was free from the spell. Amazing. I bet if that girl lent her powers to me, I could have done the final blow with one arrow. But it's always Ike that gets the final blow. It's always him that gets the credit. Its always him that..._

_Why am I even thinking of that pup? I should be focusing on my problems. My problems have to do with him and everyone around me though._

_You see, after everything went back to normal, everyone went back to their normal lives. Some people retired from fighting and some became rulers like that girl and that brat. Must be nice to live in luxury._

_The problem that I'm having is that everyone in the Greil Mercenaries is planning on moving on._

_I act like I don't know what's going on or care but...I do feel hurt._

_From observations, I think the pup is planning on leaving on a journey somewhere. He doesn't plan on telling us, but he talks with our tactician about it privately and I just happen to overhear it. Of course the two are going on the journey of love together...disgusting._

_Squinty eyes intends to leave us as well and rejoin the Crimean Knights. He probably wants to be with that obnoxious idiot. I couldn't care less about those two...it's just that's another powerful ally gone._

_Titania plans on staying, which is good, but Rhys on the other hand plans on leaving to go back to his family and help people around Tellius. It's a dog's life I tell you. He's so frail that he'd probably die after walking a few miles. He needs Titania for support but if he did leave, then she would be worried about him and have no choice but to leave as well. Couples..._

_Then there's the big buffoon and Ike's sister. I've seen the way they've been acting around each other and it started a little after the Mad King War and after Ike quit being the leader of soldiers of Crimea and Bengion. I swear our leader is the stupidest guy around if he can't even see that these two are obviously in love. Do I care? Not really but I feel for his sister. Girls like her can do better. In my opinion, I think she should end up with my student but I'm not going to give a long list of reasons why he's better than his older brother. Anyways, I think they to are leaving somewhere but will come back every now and then. The place will be deserted when they get back. Love does make the world go around...and what goes around comes around...?_

_That loud girl plans on traveling around Tellius too looking for decent opponents. She should focus on beating strong people like me if she even wants to find a worthy adversary. They probably won't even give her the time of day even with that attitude that makes it hard to ignore her. Another one bites the dust..._

_Then there is my my student Rolf. I would be glad if he stayed behind and stayed the same needy brat but that's not going to happen. He plans on leaving the Greil Mercenaries for a while. Something tells me that Mia persuaded him to go with her. I don't trust the kid to go on his own, but at the same time, I don't trust him with that loud girl. Since she's so reckless! One wrong move in battle and they're both screwed. I hope Rolf listened to my advice in bringing Vulneraries when going into a tough battle. If he doesn't do that much, then...well...I'll just say I told him so._

_Finally...there is Gatrie. Once an idiot always an idiot. He never listens to me when I tell him that women will cheat him out of his money. Because he doesn't listen, the stupid whores walk off with his money in check and I'm the one who gets upset over it instead of him. I end up paying for the dinner to cheer him up though but I get him back when he pays an even more expensive dinner. Those times won't happen anymore though. He going to keep being tricked by those rich bitches and work under them and trying to win their hearts. They will never like him because women like money more than Gatrie and there are other people who can do way better than them!_

_Alas even if all these people I work with are annoying, I don't want them all to go away just like that. I'll end up alone...again...and I don't want to go back to that life of loneliness. I would rather die than go back to that terrible time...that's why...I'm going to try and hold onto to these last moments with the Greil Mercenaries but there isn't much time left._

_Goddess don't grant wishes. They make everything worse. I don't know why I'm asking this but if there was someone up there that actually gave a damn about me which is highly unlikely, I want them to know this. Do something that will get everyone to stop their travels temporarily. I need more time to persuade someone to stay with me at the very least...but I might not get the time nor chance to do that._

_Stupid me. Why am I thinking this? I have more important things to do now. It seems like Ike got another mission for us. I'll act like a jerk again but I'm happy that we'll all going on this mission that probably isn't worth much..._


	2. First Meetings End Up With Shocking Results

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Greil Mercenaries are sent a new mission by a Crimean noble to find his lost rabbit that was taken away when bandits raided his place. Shinon is assigned to get the rabbit while everyone does the dirty work. Little does he know will meeting the yellow rabbit will change his life forever.

_Who am I? What am I? Where did I come from? I can't answer these questions because I don't know them myself. I am one with no name, no family and no one who loves me. I can't remember how old I am but these humans think I'm only a kid. I don't think I'm fourteen though. I think I'm almost 140 years old but I'm not sure...I don't know how long I lived and how long ago was it did I lose my memories. The only thing I can remember was being in this dark cage with others like me only they knew their names and family and survived their dark days knowing they had something to love in their life. I don't know how I survived. Probably because I was sold to this man that I'm suppose to be calling master. The problem is that I really care for this man. He only wants me for my powers. See, when I put something in my mouth, I can cough it out a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months even years later and the item I ate comes out shiny. The humans call it gold and they call me a gold mine and named me Gold. I don't like that name, so I hope that someone will change it eventually._

_I hate living in a cage all day. I'm expected to make gold for this man so he can keep paying his taxes. He tells me that I'm his pet rabbit but I can see in his eyes that I'm nothing but a way to make cold hard cash. You can say I was glad when this tax owner came to claim his taxes and ended up raiding the whole place with his lowly bandits. This man couldn't say anything about it because he didn't want the Queen of Crimea or anyone knowing that he had me...and I don't know what I was._

_Anyway, when they raided the place and took a lot of the gold items I made, they broke the cage I was in. I saw freedom when I hopped out of the cage but that freedom was taken away from me as I seized by them and put me in another cage. It was much smaller than the last one. They must have thought I was thin but in reality I was rather plump! They're inconsiderate bastards! I swear!_

_Oh, they took me away and the guy threatened them that he would hire mercenaries to get back at them. I didn't want to go back to his mansion anyway. These humans seem stupid, so I might be able to escape when they aren't looking. Or maybe if these mercenaries come to the bandit hideout and take everything back, maybe I could go with them. Maybe I'll find someone who will take care of me and won't treat me like an object...because I want my memories back. You have to have memories to be someone and I wanted to be someone. Someone that one could depend on with their life..._

* * *

"This is stupid..." Shinon complained for the sixth time to his best friend Gatrie.

His friend responded with a yawn. It was practically midnight when the Greil Mercenaries were called for a mission. It was some rich guy that resigned in Crimea. He asked if they could get his rabbit that was taken away from him by bandits early this morning. He offered a lot of money if they completed the mission, so Ike really couldn't say no.

Missions like this weren't hard but the problem was raiding a bandit's hideout at night when everyone was tired or had their guard down on both sides. Shinon was one of those who wasn't up for the mission mainly because he could be doing other things at the moment. (Like brooding over his friends leaving to travel all over Tellius.) His friend Gatrie however being optimistic as ever motivated him with the offer to pay for dinner if he went on the mission with everyone. Annoyed, Shinon had to say yes. It was free food. Who would refuse?

Shinon was on the verge on asking his commander if they were there yet but Boyd beat him to it just to annoy Mist.

"Are we there yet?"

Mist ignored him as a response while everyone else just groaned. It was so like him to light up the mood if Gatrie or Mia didn't.

Titania went ahead of the group to scout the area. She came back telling everyone she found the bandit's hideout and for everyone to follow her. They followed her to the hideout and this was Shinon's first reaction.

"How the hell did these bandits get a big place like this?"

"This place might have been abandoned by the previous owner." Soren stated in that calculating tone. Oh how Shinon hated to be answered in that tone of voice.

The blue haired mercenary turned to his tactician.

"So what's the best strategy?" He asked bluntly. Sometimes, Shinon wished that Ike would use his head for a change and come up with his own ideas. Then again, if he did that they'd all be dead.

"Judging from how quiet the place is," Soren began, "I think it's best if we all just attack head on. Meanwhile, one person will sneak into the back, grab that rabbit and make their escape."

"So basically, the main group will distract them while that one person sneaks in?" Ike asked trying to understand the Branded.

"Exactly. With so many bandits in this place, they won't notice the person taking their belongs if all of us attack at once."

Mia and Boyd like the idea. It was plain reckless. They could jump into the action and kill as many bandits as possible. Oscar continued to give that creepy smile while Rhys and Mist didn't like the idea one bit. Rolf was unsure of the entire thing probably because he thought he might be the one that would have to go inside and retrieve the rabbit.

Ike turned to Shinon who seemed to be ignoring the whole plan on purpose, "Shinon," he began in that all too serious tone, "I'm sending you to retrieve the target."

Shinon looked at him like he was crazy.

"Come again?"

"You're not part of the front lines Shinon." Gatrie responded with a grin.

Shinon glared the blond. He hated how Gatrie didn't realize he was being sarcastic and would repeat what the mission was again in simpler terms.

"And why am I doing it?" Shinon questioned his commander with a scorn on his face.

Soren gave him the look. That wasn't good.

"To put it to you simply," Soren began, "We need Ike, Titania, Oscar and Gatrie on the front lines. Mia and Boyd are to risky to sneak in because they're too loud."

"Hey!"

"We can't risk our healers to sneak in. There might be bandits that might not even come out and fight to protect their prize. Then there is Rolf."

Soren looked at the kid and shook his head. Shinon knew what he was going to say so Soren didn't have to tell him that the poor boy might chicken out and screw up big time in their.

"And then I got to evaluate the battle." Soren continued. "This leaves you. You're quiet when you want to be and you can handle yourself well. No one will notice you in there."

Shinon glared at the tactician. "Do I look like a thief to you?"

"You could if you weren't a marksman. I heard that thieves are learning to use a bow now instead of daggers."

"Ridiculous."

"Can we attack now?" Mia questioned after swinging her sword in front of her.

Shinon could only grumble. He had to do this or he would have to say good-bye to his paycheck that was coming out soon.

Ike nodded his head since it looked like everyone was ready. With that simple nod, Mia and Boyd rushed ahead ready to hack at anything in front of them. Titania and Oscar were right behind them. Then Ike and Gatrie followed up as Soren, Rhys, Mist and Rolf stayed in the back. Shinon sighed when Soren pointed at the hidden door that was to the side of the hideout which was where he was suppose to sneak into.

"Good luck Master Shinon!" Rolf cheered with a dopey smile on his face.

Shinon said nothing as he left. That was when everyone except Rhys started following the others.

* * *

 _Remind me never to do this again._ Shinon thought to himself as he got inside the hideout. The place was so dark that he couldn't see his hands in front of his face. Soren should have been the one to sneak in. At least he could light up the area with his Torch spell and find the rabbit without bumping into anything.

Of course all the bandits were running amok due to the attack outside. They did not see Shinon sneaking past them. They were that dimwitted.

The marksmen had no idea where the rabbit was. It was just luck that he opened the right door and found what he was looking for.

Inside a small cage was a small yellow rabbit. Well, the rabbit wasn't really small. In fact, it look different from other rabbits that he had seen. Probably because of the yellow coloring and the fact that it had a small gold gem on its head. There was also the fact that it was giving him a creepy smile in his point of view. It looked so happy in the cage.

 _I found what I was looking for._ Shinon thought to himself. _I'll just take the rabbit and go._

Shinon walked over to the cage. When he notice there was no lock on the cage, he couldn't help but sweatdrop. Were the bandits so stupid that didn't even lock the cage? Have they even considered that the rabbit could push the cage open and escape?

"Hey, Mr. Redhead!"

Shinon looked up. Did that rabbit just speak to him?

"Mr. Redhead, are you a bandit?"

It was talking to him! He was going crazy!

 _That rabbit is not talking._ Shinon told himself as he opened the cage. _It's just me hallucinating because I'm not getting enough sleep these days._

"Mr. Redhead!" The rabbit continued. "Is that thing on your back what they call a bow and arrow?"

Shinon refused to answer him. He hoped that the rabbit would stop talking to him like it was normal for an animal could talk. He could just mistake it as a Sub-Human and then follow up from there.

"I'm hungry..."

As soon as Shinon opened the cage, the yellow rabbit jumped out and opened his huge mouth. It gulped the bow and arrows on Shinon's back. Shinon's eyes widened in horror at what just happened. That thing did not just-

"It will be gold tomorrow." The rabbit promised as it hopped onto the floor.

Shinon picked up the rabbit by it's ears. He glared at it with a look that could kill. The yellow rabbit was unaffected.

"I don't know what the hell you are but you better cough off my bow! If I get caught by these lowly bandits and don't have a weapon to fight back with-"

"Tomorrow." The rabbit repeated with a laugh.

That only angered the redhead. He stretched the rabbit's ears wide causing it to cry out in pain...or was it pleasure?

"Did you not hear what I just said?"

"Puu!"

In rage, he threw the rabbit toward the wall. This caused an unlikely reaction. The rabbit started bouncing around the place like it was a pinball. Shinon had to duck to avoid getting hit by its feet. The rabbit landed right in front of him.

"That was fun! Do it again!"

Shinon gave up. He just wanted this nightmare to end. When he picked up the rabbit, the door flew open. He cursed mentally to himself. He wasn't supposed to take this long but he did and he ended up suffering the consequences.

"Hey, are you part of that group outside?" The bandit asked in rage.

Shinon was more worried about the huge axe the bandit was wielding. It's not like he couldn't dodge the huge weapon. The problem was he had a hard time seeing in the dark room. The only he could see was because the rabbit was a bright color that anyone could see. So he was at a disadvantage with the rabbit in hand. The bandit was also blocking the door. If he just had his bow then he could...

"Usagi Kick!" The rabbit announced as it jumped out of Shinon's hand and kicked the bandit in the face knocking him over. Shinon was stunned at the rabbit's power. It was no ordinary bunny.

The yellow rabbit hopped back to the redhead grinning. "If you have no bow, then I will protect you."

"Oh please!" Shinon shouted. "If you didn't eat that bow then I could have taken him on!"

The rabbit looked uncertain before jumping into Shinon's arms.

"I want out of here!" The rabbit announced.

"That makes two of us..."

Shinon was already fleeing but already, some bandits already caught on that someone was trying to steal their prize. They all came with axes and the problem with that was that they were all venom axes. He could have sworn one of them hit in the shoulder but he wasn't sure.

The rabbit was truly bad luck in his opinion because all the bandits that were still in the mansion spotted him and before he knew it, he was surrounded.

 _Just my luck!_ Shinon thought to himself.

"We caught on to those mercenaries," one of the bandit's began, "and it's obvious that you were trying to make away with our catch of the day. Now hand over the rabbit or we might get a little rough on you."

That angered the redhead. The darkness in the hideout made it look like he was a woman in these bandits eyes. If only he had his bow, he would so get them back for even mistaking him as a woman.

"Usagi ran out of energy!" The rabbit announced.

Shinon glared at the rabbit. So much for getting protected by it. 

"Well?"

"Just try me." Shinon said in a sarcastic tone. He cursed at himself. Why couldn't he just stay quiet. Not only did they find out that he was indeed a man from his voice but he wasn't going to go in willingly so he was indeed screwed.

"Why you-"

Shinon shook his head. Why did he have to die because of a stupid yellow rabbit? The Gods and Goddesses must really hate him if they went as far as to make his death humiliating.

He waited for the final blow despite the rabbit telling him to jump out of the way. If only things were that easy, he would have done so.

Of course, the final blow never came. Instead, he heard someone chanting. Was it Soren who actually went inside because he was taking too long? No. The voice wasn't even close to being feminine. In was indeed a male and he seemed to be casting dark magic. The funny thing is, the only dark user that he knew was that fake prince known as Pellias. This guy knew his magic, as it was casted at such a speed that it knocked the guy in front of him out of the way possibly killing him.

"What the-"

The other bandits had no idea what hit them. They were all getting taken out by dark magic. All fell to the ground unmoving. The last one thought it was Shinon and might have killed him if the guy casting magic didn't appear from the shadows. He gave the bandit a swift kick in the head. The marksmen felt he heard the skull crack when the last bandit fell to the ground unmoving.

"Get out of here before reinforcements come." The man ordered. His voice was indeed...

"Eh?"

"Don't let me repeat myself. Get the poor rabbit out of here."

"...Thanks?"

Shinon didn't know what to expect when more bandits came to attack. The guy was going to be all right. What annoyed him was that he couldn't see the face of his savior. All he knew was the guy had a pair of black wings and that he had a deep voice. Compared to Gatrie, his voice told him that he could rely on him.

 _What am I thinking?_ Shinon asked himself as he made his escape. _Why would I compare this stranger to Gatrie?_

Once he made it out, he saw many bodies dead on the ground. Mia and Boyd went overkill on them all.

Rhys spotted him first which was where Shinon went to.

"I got the rabbit! Happy now?" He asked annoyed.

Soren was close by and he could hear the Branded laughing at him. "Took longer than expected. Maybe you aren't cut to be a thief."

"Jackass..."

Ike was in the middle of fighting the leader of the bandits. He dealt the final blow with Rangell by using Aether on the poor soul. Now that was going overkill.

"Are we done?" Ike questioned irritated at how many bandits they all fought.

"Yes," Soren answered, "it would be in our best interest to leave anyway."

The Greil Mercenaries made their escape. No more bandits came out of the hideout because all laid dead to the hands of the mysterious black angel figure.

* * *

On the way back to the Greil Mercenary base, Mist just had to comment on the yellow rabbit.

"It's so cute!" Mist exclaimed as she poked its cheek.

"Puu!" The rabbit exclaimed.

Shinon just glared at it but couldn't bring himself to let any of the other girls hold it.

"Yeah...it's cute..." Shinon murmured sarcastically.

Mia glanced at the yellow rabbit and squealed. "It is, right?"

He ignored her axiomatic statement.

"I like the attention!" The rabbit declared.

That was when Shinon realized that no one had any idea of what the rabbit said when it announced it. Was he the only one who could fully understand what the rabbit was saying?

Unknown to him, Gatrie was glaring at the rabbit the whole time they walked back.


	3. Gem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Greil Mercenaries try give back the rabbit to its owner but it refuses to leave Shinon's side. The owner realizes that the rabbit isn't going to come back to him and allows them to keep the rabbit to Shinon's dismay. Warming up to the rabbit might be the biggest mistake me made because the rabbit is...

_I like him. The redhead who took me out of the cage. I really like him. I like him so much that I want to be with him forever. Is this what they mean by forming a bond the instant one meets? He seems to dislike me mainly because I ate his bow and arrow and he looked like a woman that needed rescuing. He got rescued so I don't see why he's still irritated with me. Maybe that's in his personality. I have to stay with him longer to find out._

_What do I like about him you ask? I don't know what I like about him. I just feel attracted to him, but he seems so lonely...I wonder if those who are with him know that he wants to open up to everyone._

_The only way to find out is to investigate...but I'm kind of hungry...hope he gives me a name soon...I want a name that everyone will remember..._

* * *

The Greil Mercenaries wasted no time claiming their prize the next day. They all headed straight to the manor where the rich man awaited. Shinon was having difficulty the whole way because the rabbit kept climbing on his shoulder and tried to stay there. Shinon kept pushing the rabbit off not only because he thought of it annoying but the rabbit's ears touched a sensitive spot on the back of his neck and it felt weird if the rabbit's ears were to continue brushing off his neck.

Mia insisted on carrying the bunny. Shinon wanted her to take it so badly but the yellow rabbit refused to let anyone else but Shinon hold on to it.

"What does this rabbit see in you?" Mia questioned as she eyed the marksmen.

"Maybe he knows that you're stupid and if you grab him that he'll have his eyes poked out...if this thing has any eyes."

He said that last line because it had the same eyes as Oscar. It creeped him out to no end because with eyes like that you don't know what they are thinking.

Mia glared at the redhead. He chose to ignore it. Boyd eyed him suspiciously.

"How do you that it's a he?"

Shinon sighed. He had no idea. He was just assuming.

"I am a he, puu!" The rabbit exclaimed.

"I bet you are..." Shinon mumbled.

Before Boyd could question him anymore, they arrived at the huge manor in Crimea. It was amazing how many rich people there still are. The Crimean Knights made sure that all the rich people in Crimea weren't getting together trying to overthrow Queen Elincia. It was safe to say that this man wasn't one of them.

The man was waiting at the front of the door looking worried about something. Upon seeing the Greil Mercenaries and his rabbit, he perked up.

"I see you got my rabbit back~" He chirped.

Ike nodded his head as he glanced at Shinon who was trying to pry the rabbit off of him. Instead of being thrown to the ground only to bounce back up, the rabbit kept a firm grip on the marksmen shoulder.

"Get the hell off of me..."

Shinon was getting irritated by the rabbit. He wanted nothing to do with it anymore. Watching over it during the time of the mission and during the time of return was enough for him. He could hear Mia and Boyd snickering at him.

"It's really attached to you." Mist stated the obvious not trying to get make it a pun.

"I can see that and I want this thing gone!"

"I don't want to go!" The rabbit cried. To everyone else, it seemed like he was saying. "Puuuuuuuu!"

Shinon looked toward Gatrie. The Marshall thought that he saw his friend pleading to get the thing off of him. It wouldn't be hard to get a simple rabbit off with his strength, right? He was so wrong when he pulled on the rabbit's ear.

"PUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" The rabbit cried out and released its grip on Shinon only to kick Gatrie in the face.

Everyone was speechless. They just watched as the Usagi beat up poor Gatrie. Shinon was too stunned to even translate what the yellow rabbit was saying to his friend.

The rich man witness the scene with his eyes and realized something. He sighed realizing that he might be killed by that so called tax collector later but if he didn't have this rabbit, then the tax collector wouldn't be going after him in the first place.

"Oh my," the rich man began, "it seems this little fella has taken a strong liking to you."

Shinon yanked the rabbit off of Gatrie. The Usagi had its eyes opened and was staring into the marshall's soul. For the first time in a while, Gatrie actually looked angry.

"I don't think that's the case..." Ike mumbled as he glanced at the two.

"That rabbit will probably like it better in a natural area than a place like this."

"Where are you getting at?"

"I'm saying not only do you get the money, but you get the rabbit as well for even attempting taking on those bandits for me."

There was a long pause. The Usagi's eyes closed and ears went up hearing what his owner declared.

"PUUUU!" The yellow rabbit cheered as it attached itself to Shinon's shoulder again. Shinon looked at the rich man like he lost his lost his mind.

"Tell me this isn't so."

Soren smirked. "I don't see why not. It's not like that rabbit is going to get off of you any time soon."

"No..."

* * *

That was the end of the mission. The Greil Mercenaries got their cash and Shinon got the rabbit. The redhead was **_NOT_** happy. He really wanted the rabbit out of his sight but it wouldn't leave him alone.

And so, they made it back in one piece and life continued from there. Ike and Soren were speaking privately about their journey. Titania tried to persuade Rhys not to travel around Tellius without her. Oscar went to tell Rolf that he might leave to rejoin the Crimean Knights. Boyd continued to flirt (and fail) with Mist and Mia was preparing her stuff for her journey. As for Gatrie, he couldn't do much due to the injury the rabbit gave him. Since the healers were too busy speaking with their loved ones, Shinon was forced to patch his friend up.

"Who knew you could treat injuries well." Gatrie joked.

"This is the _**ONLY**_ time I'm doing it and that's because those healers and too busy being lovey-dovey!" Shinon told him harshly.

"Lovey-dovey!" The yellow rabbit repeated.

Gatrie glared at the rabbit as a response. Normally, he found animals cute, but this rabbit was _**NOT**_ cute. And if something wasn't cute, then chances were that the animal was a male.

"Shinon..." The Marshall began, "What are you going to do with the rabbit?"

"Huh?"

"It seems to have taken a huge liking to you..."

"I'm probably going to give him to Mist." Shinon responded quickly. "She can handle animals well..."

That wasn't the case. It's not like Shinon couldn't do it, it's that he wouldn't do it. Reputation was important. That was what he told Rolf. Taking care of something this cute would ruin it.

"You are my master!" the yellow rabbit declared. "So give me a name, puu!"

"What did that thing say?"

"Why do you think I know what he said?"

"...I don't."

Shinon sighed. This rabbit was never going to leave him alone. Maybe if it did things that the other mercenaries didn't like, then they would get rid of the rabbit. Of course, if that happened, he would take the blame since everyone already assumed that he was the caretaker of the rabbit the minute the rich man gave them the rabbit.

"I'm hungry!" The rabbit announced. It didn't even wait for Shinon to react. It hopped out of the tent. Shinon didn't bother going after it but regretted it later when he heard utensils being thrown and his commander's voice being heard.

"Ike calm down!" He heard Oscar shout. "It was just chicken that it ate."

"I thought rabbits were vegetarian!"

The rabbit came hopping back to Shinon's tent smiling.

"All full!"

Gatrie shook his head in annoyance. Shinon however seemed amused mainly because this pet of his got his commander mad. While it was digging one's grave to piss Ike off, stealing Ike's favorite food in the world made his day.

"I hope you tame that thing..." Gatrie grumbled as he stood up and left. Shinon gave a confused look. Why was his friend mad at the rabbit for?

* * *

The Greil Mercenaries regretted taking in the rabbit mainly because Shinon wasn't watching over it. He was too busy showing Rolf how to make the Silencer bow again (since Rolf wanted to make sure that he got it right this time). The yellow rabbit messed up the whole place up. The first that the rabbit did was mess with Boyd's training. Titania was scolding him for slacking off and the rabbit just came out of nowhere and kicked Boyd in the face similar to what he did to Gatrie this morning. The reaver intended to grab the rabbit, but it kicked him where it hurts before running away. Titania just gawked at the whole scene as she called for Rhys.

For Mia, he simply ate her sword. She was going to practice her skills when the rabbit appeared out of nowhere and gulped her sword down and hopped away. She could only stare where her sword was before it was eaten.

Since the rabbit already got Oscar by having Ike take his anger out on him, he went to bug Soren. Oscar couldn't calm Ike down so Soren had to knock some sense back into him. Once the bluenette calmed down, the Usagi snuck up on him and kicked him in the back. Since he was standing in front of Soren, he ended up falling over and ended up in an awkward position. Now if it weren't inside a small house, Soren would have died of embarrassment because his cheeks lit up a hot pink. Ike's face was the same as well. The rabbit laughed and hopped off.

The rabbit liked Mist so he left her alone. His attention was Gatrie who went into a nearby village to flirt with the women. It didn't like the situation one bit so in order to embarrass Gatrie further, he hopped up to his back and kicked him so hard he fell over. Gatrie tried to stop himself from falling over and ended up grabbing onto something hoping that would help him from falling on the girl he was flirting with. Of course, that thing was the woman's breast. That created another awkward situation and it resulted in the village women beating up on the poor blond labeling him as a pervert.

At the end of all of this, all the Greil Mercenaries (except those who weren't terrorized by the yellow rabbit) wanted it gone.

Shinon had no idea that all of that happened because he was too busy training with Rolf. Once the bow was done though...

"I want a bath!" The yellow rabbit exclaimed.

Shinon glared at it. "And you're telling me this because?"

"Because you are my master."

Shinon sighed. Rolf looked at his teacher puzzled. "Do you understand the rabbit Master Shinon?"

"I guess...damn thing is asking for a bath? What does this he think it is?"

Rolf looked at the yellow rabbit. It looked so happy even when it was being bashed.

"Did you give the rabbit a name?"

"Eh?"

"A name? Does he have a name?"

"Why are you asking me this stupid question?"

Rolf gave Shinon those puppy dog eyes forcing the redhead to look away to avoid seeing them. If he looked at him, then he would fall for the spell and would end up doing anything the kid wanted. Not going to happen.

"I don't have a name." The rabbit stated. Shinon noted that the tone of voice changed. Indeed, the rabbit's ears drooped representing sadness.

"...Gem..."

"Gem?"

"The jewel on its head. Is that good enough for you?" Shinon asked annoyed.

Rolf and Gem nodded their head in agreement. Shinon sighed. What have he gotten himself into?

"Gem wants a bath!" The yellow rabbit announced.

Shinon sighed. "Rolf, I got another mission for you."

"What?"

"Go wash the rabbit."

Rolf had no problem doing what his teacher told him to, but it still didn't seem right. The green haired teen could tell that Shinon wanted to take the job but his reputation and pride wouldn't let him.

When the sniper took the Usagi out...

"What's the big idea?"

Shinon glanced at the entrance of his door and glared at the intruder.

"Next time, knock!"

"I'll knock when I want you? Where is that rabbit?"

"...Gem?"

"The rabbit that took a liking to you."

"Boyd, you should be lying down now!" Rhys called out.

"I will when I see that rabbit's ears chopped off."

"Go away. Gem is with Rolf."

And Boyd was off just like that. Rhys didn't follow though. The poor guy shouldn't be running around camp.

"Gem?" he asked quietly.

"That's his name. Got a problem with it?"

"N-No... I should be going now. If you excuse me."

Shinon watched the saint walk slowly back to his house. He started to worry that Gem would come back with no ears. He didn't know why he cared for the annoying bunny. All he knew was that he should be claiming that rabbit back before someone got hurt and Rolf isn't going to be the person if Boyd got reckless.

* * *

Rolf enjoyed his time with Gem and had no idea why. The yellow rabbit attracted him like a dog would a human. Perhaps it was the innocent demeanor it had on. With small arms, legs, huge ears, and a happy go lucky facial expression, it could put on the charm.

At first, Gem kept bouncing away from Rolf because it didn't want to be washed by anyone except Shinon but changed its mind when Rolf pulled his ears out of annoyance. Instead of kicking the kid, it just stood there and let Rolf wash his fur (or rather coat because Gem certainly wasn't fuzzy).

Gem got a nice sight of Rolf's body because the teen was oblivious to the fact that anything could be perverted and stripped so it would be easier for him to wash the rabbit as well as wash himself off. The yellow rabbit sat on his cock and bounced on it. Rolf couldn't help but blush.

"Stop it. I can't get the soap out of your ears if you keep bouncing there..." Rolf mumbled. His complaints were unheard as the rabbit continued but it didn't last long since Boyd appeared and witnessed the scene.

There was a long awkward pause. Gem stopped bouncing and looked at the new arrival. It started to shiver seeing the axe on Boyd's back.

"Do you need something Boyd?" Rolf asked innocently.

Boyd looked ready to kill the rabbit. Gem looked ready to run.

"That thing is going down!"

And Gem was off like a rocket. What surprised the two was that when it was scared, it could fly with its huge ears. Another reason to cut them both off. Rolf could only watch as his older brother chased after the rabbit. It was obvious that he was done cleaning himself and the rabbit.

* * *

The Griel Mercenaries watched as Boyd chased Gem all over the Griel Mercenary base. Now Ike had the choice to stop Boyd because he was the commander and he would beat him in the weapon triangle. However, there is one reason why he didn't want to stop them that didn't have to do with falling on top of Soren.

He had the Killer Axe.

A Killer Axe meant a high critical hit.

Ike had low luck and the axe had a high critical hit. What does this mean? Ike would be seriously wounded or killed.

Oscar might have been the one to stop him if Gem didn't spot Shinon walking toward the scene. Like the wind, he flew to his owner at top speed and landed in his arms. The yellow rabbit nudged him screaming that it didn't want to die (everyone else heard a long Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu). The red head glanced at Oscar hoping he would calm his younger brother down. Boyd stopped in front of the marksmen. Shinon couldn't help but smirk.

"Tired already?" Shinon questioned in a sarcastic tone. "You've gotten slower since that last battle."

"You bastard! You and that rabbit!"

Shinon shook his head. "I don't know what this guy could have done to you."

"It did a lot of things!"

Half of the group could have agreed but they stayed out of it waiting for Oscar to say something. It was apparent that Oscar was amused at the scene now for some unknown reason.

"Really? Explain."

"That thing kicked me right here!" Boyd announced as he pointed to his private part earning a giggle from Mist. "And that thing was doing the same thing to Rolf."

Shinon looked at Gem. The yellow rabbit gave the innocent "Who me?" look which was the same look when he was happy, mischievous or any emotion except sorrow. The redhead believed the crafty rabbit and shook his head.

"He probably doesn't like you." Shinon responded getting the expected angry from the Reaver. "And the only one who would do who knows what to the kid is someone interested in little boys."

"He has a point..." Mist mumbled.

Boyd pointed at Mist. "You're not supposed to agree with him!"

"He's mean!" Gem cried out.

"I know..." Shinon mumbled as he glanced at Boyd. "Anyway, I would appreciate it if you don't kill my rabbit."

"Since when did you consider that rabbit yours again?" Boyd questioned.

Shinon had no answer to that.

In the end, Oscar didn't say anything about the matter because his younger brother calmed down on his own when he realized that Shinon couldn't answer that simple question.

* * *

Night finally came. Most of Tellius was probably asleep if they weren't partying or drinking. Shinon wanted to go out drinking so bad but Gatrie refused to go with him. It was the first time he did so and the redhead couldn't figure out why. His hunch that it had something to do with the rabbit.

_"Since when did you consider that rabbit yours again?"_

Boyd's question kept popping up in his mind. He couldn't figure it out. Up until that moment where the rabbit was about to get his ears cut off, he didn't consider it his...so why did he claim it was his that moment?

 _This rabbit is ruining my life..._ Shinon thought to himself. He glanced at it expecting Gem to be bouncing on his bed not wanting to go to bed. To his surprise, the rabbit had its ears drooped. The gem on its head was glowing and it seemed to be out of breathe. Did it use all of its energy running (or rather flying) away from Boyd?

"It hurts..." Gem mumbled.

"What hurts?"

Gem didn't respond. His body began to grow white. Shinon didn't expect what was happening next.

In front of his eyes, the rabbit started to change its shape. When the light was gone so was the rabbit. The rabbit was replaced with a young boy who looked to be the same age as Rolf if not a year older. He had short blond hair and huge brown eyes. While he looked normal, the trait that made Shinon say what he said was his big ears that were on top of his head that went half way down his back.

"Sub-human..."

Gem did not respond to that world like other Laguz would. He looked rather sad when he said that.

"Is that the name of my race?" He asked innocently.

The redhead couldn't respond to that even though he was tempted to say,'yes'.

"You hate those different from you?" Gem questioned.

The question was enough to set him off.

"Get out..."

Gem looked confused. "What?"

"Get out."

Gem looked at his owner in disbelief. His ears drooped and his big eyes closed. "I'm sorry for being what I am..."

Shinon was shocked by these words. Whenever he was being racist to Laguz, they usually tried to attack him. If he remember correctly, he offended the hawk Janaff and almost got attacked by that cat girl Lyre had that tiger Kyza didn't stop her. So why does rabbit get upset when he's called that? Why doesn't he fight back?

Shinon didn't get his answer because Gem ran straight for the door. It seemed like Gatrie was going to see him but the yellow rabbit was able to push pass him and leave into the cold night. Gatrie was stunned.

"Was that rabbit a Laguz?" Gatrie questioned.

"Damn straight! There is no way in hell I'm taking care of a Sub-human!"

Gatrie shook his head. He didn't understand why Shinon hated the Laguz so much. Beroc and Laguz were the same, so why couldn't he appreciate their presence? Heck, he was surprised when he was rude to Lyre.

"You know, this isn't my place to say it Shinon but I think what you did was plain wrong."

That earned a glare from the redhead. Gatrie continued though.

"I didn't see who it was but that Laguz seem to be a kid at heart. I know for a fact that you like kids so doing that is not in your character, Laguz or not."

"What do you know?"

"Shinon...would you do that if that was Rolf?"

"...Depends on how annoying he gets..."

"Just go get that kid back! Laguz or not, it's wrong to leave a kid behind in need."

Gatrie wouldn't let him say no. Shinon mumbled a series of curse words cursing everyone around him as he left. It was then did Gatrie notice that the redhead didn't bother bringing a bow.

The marshall looked outside. It started to rain despite this being the season where everything is hot.

_I hope he doesn't get sick._

* * *

Shinon was glad that no one saw him leave the base or rather they didn't make their appearance known to him. He very much didn't want to look for a Sub-human especially one that was taking advantage of the situation. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder why a Sub-human would get all upset being referred to that name instead of the term Laguz. In Shinon's mind, all Sub-humans would attack if they heard that term except the herons (unless you count Reyson who is just as violent as Tibarn when he's mad)...

When it started raining, Shinon felt like those people above were laughing at him. And for what? Kicking the rabbit out because he was one of those filthy animals?

The funny thing was, despite the rabbit being able to run very fast, Shinon had a hunch where he was, so it didn't take long for him to find Gem.

The poor kid had his back to a tree, arms wrapped around his knees and head buried. His ears were shielding him from the rain but he didn't seem to care because he was crying. For once, Shinon felt guilty for hurting someone, Laguz or not.

"..."

"...I know you're there..." Gem chocked out between his sobs.

Shinon couldn't speak to him right away because the blond looked at him with tearful eyes. That was the same face Rolf gave him whenever he lectured him.

"You don't have to take me back..." Gem continued. "From the look on your face, I know you don't like people with non-human characteristics."

"...That's not necessary true." Shinon admitted. "It's just that I..."

He refused to continue fearing that if he continued, the barrier he created so long ago would finally shatter.

Gem shook his head. "Don't apologize. I should have told you before I transformed back...it's just that..."

Before he knew it, Shinon succumbed to the blond. Seeing the rabbit Laguz in this condition was a tragic sight and he wouldn't be the one to blame if he died right now. The redhead walked over to the rabbit and touched the gem on the rabbit's head. Gem wondered if he knew that touching the jewel would turn him back into his rabbit form because he did in a poof of smoke. It was Shinon's turn to grab the Usagi and not let go.

"I'm sorry..." Was all Shinon could muster.

"Don't be...puu..."

* * *

Boyd was complaining the whole night to his older brother about the rabbit. Oscar tuned him out though and found something more interesting to do beside writing a letter to Kieran about how everything was going.

"Boyd, I would appreciate if you be quiet." Oscar told him after realizing that he made many mistakes in his letter.

"But Oscar! That rabbit is a menace!" Boyd complained.

While the reaver was yelling, Rolf, who couldn't sleep, watched from his window. It started raining and he couldn't visit Shinon without getting soaked. He gasped as he saw Shinon come back with Gem. They both were soaked.

"Hey Rolf, what do you think of the rabbit?" Boyd asked.

"I think he and Shinon will be best of friends." Rolf responded glancing at the entire scene.

Boyd was confused. He looked out the window to see what his younger brother was staring at and gawked. Oscar could only smirk as he finished the letter and corrected all of his mistakes.

* * *

"So, is it true that you gave that rabbit away?"

"Of course I did! I don't want you coming to my place and taking what doesn't belong to you! I want nothing to do with you people!"

"Oh really?"

"What are you...ARGHH!"

A laughter was heard as the guy who paid the Greil Mercenaries fell to the ground unmoving.

"You think that because you gave the only thing that tied you to us means that you're free from your chains? Fool! Once you give that rabbit away, there is no reason to keep you alive."

The man who said this was a rather overweight man who wore all black. He had a hood covering his head preventing one from seeing his face. His evil smile showed though.

"Captain, we've detected the location of the rabbit."

The fat man turned to his subordinate and laughed. "Good, good. Tell me well."

"It appears to be a common mercenary base, sir. Shall we attack them now?"

"No. We will greet them tomorrow. If they cooperate, I might as well spare them. If they don't, then more blood will be spilled." The fat man looked at the tip of his lance and smirked. "And this baby is asking for more blood."

With that said, he continued to laugh hysterically.

And so did the wheel of fortune turn for the Greil Mercenaries once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gem is a Laguz and the reason why he doesn't react to the term "Sub-human" is because he cannot understand the hatred between the two races due to having no memory thus does he end up crying from rejection from being what he is instead of the term affecting him.
> 
> Also, Shinon does have a reason for hating Laguz. I might explain it...later. Maybe then it will make sense since he seems to hate them for no reason. Gem is the first step in accepting them though.


	4. First Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mysterious man arrives at the Greil Mercenary base and demands for Gem. The choice is up to Shinon, but at this point, he might not want to give Gem away. What will the consequences be? And who is the black rabbit?

_I got to get away. These Beroc are crazy! I saw that overweight man kill the rich man who kept the yellow rabbit as a pet and it was because he gave the yellow rabbit away to someone who probably cared about him. I don't know if that rich man was good or evil but he must be good if he wanted the yellow Usagi to be happy._

_Yet…here I am trying to escape him knowing that it will be impossible. I feel like if I can reunite with the yellow rabbit that I'll be 100 times safer. Maybe I feel that way because the one who took the yellow rabbit in must be a kind, considerate Beroc. I pray that it is a Laguz though. They have an aura of kindness unlike most Beroc._

_"She's getting away!" I hear the soldiers shout._

_Before I knew it, I was getting hand axes, javelins and spears thrown at me. I just wanted to run away from it all. Why didn't I transform into my Beroc form? It was obvious. I would have been killed easily because I'm so slow in that form. That is why I must take my rabbit form and hop away._

_I can feel an arrow hit me in the shoulder. I feel like I'm done for, but I still want to see the light of day again. Someone please save me…_

* * *

_Shinon isn't a bad person after all. He seems to hate those different from him but when he came looking for me last night, I knew that wasn't the case. He really was the lonely type hoping that someone would see through him. I saw through him instantly. Maybe that's why I love him even more. I really want to protect him forever now._

_My stomach hurts…I got to cough up that bow and sword now…or I might actually have a gash in my stomach. That sword is too damn sharp…_

* * *

The calmness seem to have return to the Greil Mercenaries for a few hours but that peace was shattered the instant Titania and Mia went out to train with poor Rhys being dragged along. The poor saint knew that the odds of Mia winning were low and Titania might knock her out, so he kept on the sidelines in case. He did this when Mia challenged Ike to a battle.

Not only did Mia lose miserably (she came out with a rather huge wound on her shoulder), but they were interrupted by a fat man who was wearing all black. Titania couldn't see his face but somehow she knew that something bad was going to happen.

"Can I help you?" Titania questioned as she got off her horse. She couldn't fight Mia evenly if she wasn't fighting on it but that made Mia have the disadvantage.

"Actually," the man began in a stern voice, "I was here to pick up something my friend gave to you."

Titania was puzzled.

"Oh. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Gustav and I have come to claim my rabbit that my friend gave to you."

As Rhys healed Mia's wounds with a Recover staff, the girls responded with a blink or two.

"Do you know where my rabbit is?" Gustav continued.

Titania glanced at the other two Greil Mercenaries. They had to tell Ike about this.

* * *

Titania wasted no time to get the other Greil Mercenaries. Most were asleep so when she woke them up (Mia woke the brother's up in a rude way) they weren't amused. Mia was going to barge in and wake up Shinon, but stopped when Rhys quietly told her that it was best to be quiet. The Trueblade slowly creaked the door opened and couldn't help but sigh when Rhys dragged her off. He was sleeping through the whole thing as well as Gem. She heard from the saint that Shinon went out to get the rabbit after he kicked it out for unknown reasons and came back soaked. The frail man stated that Shinon went through a lot yesterday and it was best for him to let him sleep a little longer. (He would wake up soon due to the yellow rabbit being mischievous).

The Greil Mercenaries decided to stay five feet away from their commander. Waking up this early was a sin. One more hour and he would be easier to communicate with.

Gatrie yawned. "Why did you have to wake me up? I was having beautiful women in my dreams…"

Everyone chose to ignore him.

"Is there something you want?" Ike asked in a grumpy tone.

"My rabbit that my friend gave to you as an award."

"Oh, that rabbit?"

"Yes. I asked my friend to take care of the rabbit for me, but he wasn't the best at taking care of animals…"

"About that…"

"I would really appreciate if I could have her back."

Ike said nothing. If he remembered correctly, Shinon stated that it was a male and the rabbit responded happily. Was he wrong or was this guy a fraud? The bluenette consider the fact that this guy was a fraud but wouldn't say it without proof.

"The rabbit isn't mine." Ike said simply. "Ask Shinon if you want it back."

The man cocked an eyebrow underneath the hood. "Who?"

"He's still asleep." Mia confirmed.

"Oh...I'm in a real hurry so could you..."

The obnoxiously loud cry was enough for everyone to cover their ears. What did Shinon do to it now? Everyone would find out shortly.

The door magically opened and Gem was thrown out of the room. Since he was bouncy, he ended up rebounding on the walls. Luckily no one was kicked by his legs. When he stopped bouncing, the yellow rabbit coughed up two weapons that were now made of gold. Mia recognized her sword immediately.

"Hey, it's my sword!"

Ike eyed the rabbit. "Where's my chicken?"

They ignored their commander when Shinon came in rather upset. (He was still in his pajamas so Gatrie got to check him out since he was still half asleep).

"I heard someone call my name..." Shinon mumbled with a yawn. If no one told him anything, he was going back to bed no questions asked.

"Shinon is mean!" Gem whined as he bounced over to Rolf and hopped into his arms. Rolf had no idea what he was saying.

The mysterious man eyes widened when he saw the rabbit. He grinned.

"That's the one."

The group looked at the rabbit and then back at the man. It was all up to Shinon but...

"Gem won't be going anywhere." Shinon told the man noticing his presence.

The man was shocked. "Why not?"

"He doesn't want to go."

Gem nodded his head in agreement as he flew over to his master.

"That man is evil!" The yellow rabbit declared.

The mysterious man seemed to be losing it. He tried to remain calm but the Greil Mercenaries caught on. Shinon referred the rabbit as a he and the response was happy. It was clear that Gem did not belong to this man.

The redhead went over to where his bow was and picked it up. He stretched his arms out. "I guess it's back to bed for me..."

"W-Wait..." The man began as Shinon turned back to leave but Gem opened his eyes like he was planning something.

"I'm firing my...THUNDER!" Gem declared as he jumped out of Shinon's hands, opened his mouth and shot a blast of lightning from his mouth. It hit the man head on and sent him flying out of the building. The attack was so powerful the wall broke down. Everyone can only look at the wall and then at the rabbit before a sweatdrop appeared above their head.

"...Evil man gone..." Gem announced as he transformed back into his Laguz form surprising everyone especially the man who wasn't sent that far. He glared at the redhead who allowed the rabbit to be reckless. Not like Shinon knew that Gem could shoot lightning.

"Damn Sub-Human!" The mysterious man shouted finally losing his cool.

"Go away you evil Beroc!" Gem shouted as he ran back into Shinon's room. The redhead didn't even bother turning around. He had to go scold Gem for that since Ike wouldn't let him off the hook for breaking the wall.

"D-Don't think you're off the hook! I will get you!" The man threatened and rushed off.

Titania turned to Ike. "Should we go after him?"

Ike shook his head. "No. I doubt that man can follow up with his threat...the only thing I'm worried about is..." Ike glanced at the wall and it was obvious what he was worried about.

"We're going to have to talk to Shinon about this..." Soren whispered to Ike.

The bluenette nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

No one was able to get back to sleep after that event though and Shinon blamed Gem for it.

Ike, Soren and Titania (mainly Soren) were pestering him about the damage done throughout the day and he was forced to answer. Of course, he had no idea that Gem could shoot lightning from his mouth, so there was nothing he could do about it. Ike saw that Shinon was telling the truth about that only and let him off with the damage...or so he thought.

"And how long have you known that the rabbit was a Laguz?" Soren questioned for the fifth time.

"Yesterday..." Shinon finally said. God, he hated when the tactician wouldn't leave him or anyone else alone. He should just bug Ike all day and there would be no problems.

"Were you planning on keeping this a secret?"

"Are you constantly asking me questions just to piss me off?"

"If you don't give us enough information, we can't confirm anything about the rabbit. Also, if that guy comes back which I highly doubt, we might be in trouble."

"...I have no answer."

Soren couldn't get anything out of Shinon after that. It annoyed him greatly because if there was more to the rabbit than he let on, then they all might be in trouble. Of course, it was nothing the Greil Mercenaries couldn't handle.

Gem was bored watching the Wind Archsage question his master. He just had to let that lighting come out eventually. After all, he did eat a lighting tome.

When Soren turned to Gem though, he already turned back into his rabbit form and replied with a "Puu" each time. The yellow rabbit was saying "Puu" in Shinon's ears as well so the redhead couldn't translate. Soren noted that the rabbit was exactly like Shinon in terms of angering people. The only difference is that it was hard to stay mad at him.

Gem looked around and noted that Shinon was already gone. Titania didn't bother stopping the redhead because it was useless to get anything out of him no matter how persistent Soren may be. And Ike wasn't really the role model for him. They would have to try another time.

* * *

Shinon just wanted to get away from the questions. He wasn't the type to interrogate someone and Gem was the perfect example. He didn't understand why he would defend the rabbit and not care about his personal background despite being a Laguz yet...

Shinon wanted to avoid the others as well. Gatrie or Rolf might question him what happened. They would get no answer if they didn't see him. In order to do that, he had to wander away from the base. He asked himself if that was a great idea?

The first thing he noticed when he was away from the base was Mist. He wondered why she would be outside the Greil Mercenary fort without anyone beside her. Was she trying to get herself killed? Bandits could have appeared and killed her. Of course, Oscar might have been around so it might have been alright. Noticing the expression on her face though, did he have the urge to rush to her side. It made him wonder what the hell was she looking at.

"Something happened?" He asked in an uncaring tone. He tried to sound uncaring anyway.

It was then see what she was looking at that made him realize why she was frightened. In the bushes laid a girl no more than twelve years old unmoving. She had medium black hair and wore a white dress like outfit that was stained in sanguine. The feature that caught Shinon by surprise was the black ears that came out of her head.

 _Another one?_ He asked himself.

Mist seem to have recovered from the shock and rushed over to the girl.

"Are you okay?" She asked the obvious.

There was no reply coming out of the girl. It seemed she was at her limit. Mist got out her stave and began healing the wounds so she wouldn't die at least. When the the huge blood stains disappeared, Mist finally took notice of Shinon.

"Can you please help me carry her back to the base?" She asked politely.

"What? Surely you don't expect me to carry a Sub-Human!" Shinon complained.

"Shinon!"

Mist was glaring at the redhead now but her voice was pleasing for him to help. The marksmen had no choice.

"Fine. I'm not taking responsibility for another rabbit!"

Mist couldn't help but giggle as she witnessed Shinon gently lift up the female rabbit and carry her back to the fort. Of course, she wouldn't allow the redhead to walk so she ended up rushing him to his annoyance.

* * *

The Greil Mercenaries were not impressed with another rabbit but Shinon quickly stated that it was all Mist and no one questioned him. Instead, Rhys tended to the rabbit.

"This is horrible..." He mumbled. "Who would hurt a child to this extent?"

Gem glanced at the unconscious rabbit girl. He was confused. He thought he was the last one, but that wasn't the case after all. Maybe when she wakes up, she will be able to tell him things about himself. Information that he must know.

Ike and Mist came to a truce. It was apparent that he didn't like Gem because of that one chicken incident but for his sister's sake, he would allow the Laguz to stay until she got better. Mist was glad her brother gave in. Probably because she finally had a girl that appeared her age to play with. That's if the girl woke up.

Since Rhys wouldn't allow anyone in the room where he was healing the rabbit, he asked everyone but Mist to leave. Soren decided to discuss the rabbit issue with Ike and Titania. The three brothers and Mia went off to do their thing. Gatrie and Shinon were left with guarding the entrance. Not like anybody dangerous would come to them.

"And I thought one rabbit was enough..." Gatrie began, "but this rabbit is cute so I guess another one is okay."

Shinon groaned. "Is looks all you care about?"

"Ah Shinon. Come on! You know you're going to have to find a pretty young lady soon."

"I'm not like you."

"Are you telling me you are going to live the rest of your life alone?"

That stung a little but the redhead kept an adamant countenance. "I might as well. Most of the wretches are liars anyway!"

"You know that's not true!"

"It is. They all tricked you. They could do the same thing with me."

Gatrie sighed. Sure he let the women he met take his money but that was because they needed it. They don't need the money for their petty reasons. If he said this though, the marksmen would find a way to counter it making him look more stupid.

"I'm sure not all women are bad. The same with Laguz."

Shinon just shot him a glare. Before he could ramble about how terrible the 'Sub-Humans' were, the marshall noticed people approaching.

"Those look like friends of the bandits we took out the night before..."

Shinon rolled his eyes. It was only four of them. Nothing they could handle. It was in front of the fort though so...

"Is someone approaching?"

That was Oscar already on his white mare. The two senior members of the Greil Mercenaries nodded their heads.

"Should I tell Commander Ike?" Oscar questioned.

Shinon wouldn't say yes to Ike no matter what so Gatrie answered for him. Oscar left when the bandits approached.

"Can I help you?" Shinon questioned in a sarcastic tone. He was ready to shoot an arrow from the golden bow that Gem coughed up. He had to admit that it looked more reliable than the Silver Bow.

One of the bandits turned to Shinon and snarled. "You know what we want!"

"Uh...no I don't."

The bandit was ready to attack the marksmen but his friend held him down. He calmed himself and explained but he still expressed his hate. "You have both of our rabbits and we want them back!"

Gatrie sighed mumbling how the yellow rabbit was bad luck. It was Shinon's turn to glare.

 _They must be that guy's men._ Shinon thought to himself.

"If you don't hand them over, we won't hesitate to burn down this fort!" The bandit declared.

The marshall might have spoken for Shinon to try and bide time but something inside made him snap. He remembered the rage that Gem demonstrated toward that guy and the wounds on the female rabbit's body. From those examples alone, it was obvious that this man abused them both because they were Laguz. It wasn't the Laguz part that made him mad though. It was the fact that they were only kids that made him upset.

"I don't remember either of them having your leader's name on them." Shinon responded bitterly. "And even if they did, why would I hand them over to a bunch of low-lives like you."

"Shinon..."

That made all of the bandits angry. Shinon's provoke really worked on them. One of the bandits got out his axe and prepared to attack the redhead. Gatrie stepped in front of him though and blocked the attack with his lance. Shinon wasn't impressed. He took an arrow and shot the guy in the head killing him instantly.

"I didn't need your protection!" Shinon told his friend harshly.

"But didn't I tell you that I would be your personal savior?" Gatrie questioned.

 _How could I forget?_ Shinon asked himself. He felt his cheeks light up but that feeling disappeared very quickly. He had bandits to kill.

The other three bandits backed up. They were ready to attack and avenge their friend.

"You bastard!" Another one of the bandit's cursed. "I thought we wouldn't have to do this the hard way but..."

All of a sudden a herd of bandits appeared behind the three bandits. Behind them was the man in the dark cloak. He wasn't in it anymore and revealed to be a rather fat man with messy brown hair.

"Oh shit..." The two Senior Members mumbled.

Gustav laughed. "You thought my threat wasn't real, well it is and you are going to die! My men, attack!"

It was best to pull back. One bandit tried to attack Shinon but the marksmen quickly fired an arrow and killed the guy. Gatrie shoved many of the bandits away. Before long, the three brothers appeared. Oscar was not happy.

"Couldn't you just hold a truce?" Oscar questioned with a sigh.

"These guys wouldn't listen. They would have raided this place for what happened a few nights ago," Shinon explained.

The other Greil Mercenaries came out including Gem.

"There it is!" One of the bandits shouted.

"Capture it!"

Soren gave a look that could kill at Shinon.

"Would you mind explaining the situation?" He asked in an irritated tone.

"They're after the two rabbits and they don't plan on sparing us even if they get them back." Shinon told him. Half of that was a lie to cover up the fact that he provoked the bandit. Gatrie wouldn't say anything but he didn't need to since Soren saw right through the lie.

"Don't provoke them next time." Ike stated as he got out Ragnell.

Everyone was already fighting the bandits when Ike stopped Shinon from going to the entrance and guarding the area.

"What do you want?" Shinon questioned. What did his commander need?

"Someone needs to stay with that rabbit inside." Ike said simply.

"Isn't that what Rhys and Mist is for."

"They wouldn't listen to reason. They said they were going to help out. Besides, this might be a good way to punish you for lying."

"...Is that an order?"

"Yes."

"I hate you."

Ike could only laugh as Shinon walked slowly back. The bluenette didn't suspect him to obey him so easily.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay fighting?" Ike questioned Gem who has yet to move from his spot.

"Yes. I can't remember how I did that lightning attack," Gem began, "but I can fight with my fist and feet no matter what form I'm in. Well, I can only fight with my feet in Laguz form..."

"If that's it then go to battle. Just don't get yourself killed."

"I won't." Gem said with a grin and flew to where Rolf was to protect the kid.

With that settled, Ike decided to go toward the boss when everyone cleared a path which wouldn't be a problem.

* * *

Shinon could hear the cries of bandits getting killed outside. Why did Ike have to send him inside? That pissed him off more than anything. Oh would he rant about the savior of Tellius to Gatrie when this was done.

Watching someone was something Shinon was not good at. He would be outside killing people left and right with his arrows but no! He was here watching a Sub-Human. It wasn't like she was going to wake up anytime soon!

What the leader the bandit said bugged him though. Why would these rabbits belong to him? Didn't slave trading end already?

"I need to shoot someone..." He mumbled.

"Oh..."

_She's waking up after all!_

The girl slowly opened her eyes. They were black and were just as big as Gem's. She sat up.

"What...happened?" she questioned. Shinon could barely hear her because she was close to whispering.

"Our commander's sister found you near our fort." Shinon explained. "And we decided to treat your wounds."

Her ears shot up. She started to shiver.

"What's going on outside?"

"Bandits trying to take over the fort. Happens every now and then but we usually kill them until they run for their lives."

The girl nodded her head. She seem to calm down instantly.

"Shima..."

"Eh?"

"That's my name. Those bad Beroc tried to change it..."

"Oh..." Shinon tried sounding uninterested but it wasn't happening.

"Your name Mr.?"

"It's Shinon but the one who saved you is named Mist. Makes sure you thank her."

Shima nodded her head, "Okay."

The redhead froze. For a minute, she reminded him of someone but who?

"The door..." She murmured.

Shinon looked at the door and groaned. Wasn't someone suppose to defend them because they're doing a crappy job.

"You stay here." Shinon said as he got his bow. "It'll only take a second."

Shima watched as Shinon opened the door. A bandit was closing in. He quickly shot the bandit before he got to the door and that was the end of that. He closed the door again.

"Ike is such a crappy defender..." The marksmen complained. "It makes me wonder how we were able to defend this base during the Mad King's War..."

The black rabbit said nothing. She just sat in a corner of the room and stayed quiet. She was the complete opposite of Gem in his eyes.

"I want to help..." Shima mumbled, "but I don't have a stave."

"Stave?"

"I can use staves and heal people in this form...and that's about it..."

Shinon glanced around the room. He noticed that Mist left one of her staves on the table when she rushed out with the rest of him.

 _She's not going to use it._ Shinon thought as he grabbed the stave from the table and lent it to the black rabbit. "Here."

Shima glanced at the Mend stave. A small smile escaped her lips.

"Thank you..."

Shinon nodded his head as a response. "If you're fine, I think it's best to fight. The sooner we defeat them, the better."

"But wouldn't your commander-"

"I don't give a rat's ass on what he says or thinks. Just go out there if you aren't too injured."

It might have been a stupid thing to say because Shima just woken up and for her to go into battle just like that. The redhead would have to protect her.

* * *

The reason why the battle didn't end right away was because reinforcements kept on appearing out of nowhere. Ike was unable to make it to the boss and was forced to stay on the front lines. Titania, Boyd, Mia, Oscar, Gem and Gatrie were hanging in their but at that point, Rolf was at his limits at firing bows. Rhys' stave might break at any moment and Soren and Mist were busy fending for themselves that they couldn't heal the others. There might be a causality if this kept up.

"That's it my men! Clear a path for me! I will retrieve the black rabbit myself if I have to!" The boss announced.

"Yes Gustav!"

After Soren killed another bandit by burning them with a fire spell, he was started to get aggravated. "This is getting nowhere."

"The reinforcements will stop eventually." Ike ensured him.

It was true that the reinforcements were coming in fewer numbers but they were getting stronger and harder to hold off.

"Ike..."

"Tell Mist that you and her need to stay in the back. You had enough of being on the front lines. I couldn't risk getting either of you hurt."

"Understood. Be careful."

As soon as Soren turned around though, he fumed.

"Did you tell Shinon to stay inside?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I see that he's fighting with us now."

"That fool!"

"And he brought the rabbit out too..."

Ike sliced away at another bandit that came close. With the Greil Mercenaries still defending, Soren rushed over to the marksmen.

"What do you think you're doing?" Soren questioned.

"Disobeying Commander Ike's orders." Shinon answered with that same smug look he had whenever he did something to tick Soren off.

"Do you have to be uncooperative now?"

"Yes. Have a problem with that?"

"I do."

"Um...please don't fight...I wanted to help the ones who saved me so..."

Soren finally took notice to the black haired girl. The girl quickly tended his wounds with a Mend staff.

"Ike will punish you when this is over," Soren said in a harsh tone.

Shinon rolled his eyes in response.

Back at the frontline, Gem was doing extremely well. This was his first battle and everything came to him naturally with the punch and kicks. The yellow rabbit was able to predict the moves of his opponent easily. Most of the bandits couldn't get past the kid.

"You sure know how to fight despite being a kid." Boyd commented.

Gem grinned. "This is my first time but it feels so natural to fight, puu."

"I like that attitude." Boyd said with a laugh as he killed another bandit coming their way. "What was your name again?"

"Gem."

"Gem eh? I had no idea Shinon was creative with names."

"He is."

"What are you boys talking about?" Mia questioned as she hacked a bandit from behind when he wasn't looking.

Gem's eyes sparkled. He was happy being on the battlefield. For the thrill and the fact that he was meeting new friends and defeating his foes that tried to take him away from the cage. It was payback.

Eventually the boss got tired realizing that he wasn't getting anywhere with the stealing. He was planning to go toward their leader and fight him one on one but a hand stopped him. He turned around. Behind him was a girl no older than the age of fourteen with gold eyes and dark blue hair. Her skin was as pale as a vampire and she wore an unfamiliar gothic lolita. She was sucking on a lollipop.

"What do you want Gluttony?" He questioned in rage.

"Our leader wants us to come back. He says that our spy finally uncovered the prophecy." The girl told him.

"At a time like this?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to let the rabbits go for another day and have someone else capture them. Or you can take the risk and send one of our assassin's to capture one of them now."

Gustav thought for a second and then replied. "Send the assassin and take the black rabbit at least. That archer won't be able to save her."

Gluttony licked her lollipop and smiled evilly. "Oh Gustav is such the daredevil. The assassin is already here, so shall we take our leave."

"And these bandits?"

"Let them die. Our boss doesn't want anymore of these pathetic humans to serve him anymore."

Gustav laughed. They both turned and disappeared into the forest leaving the bandits unattended. Unaware that they were abandoned by their leader, they continued the futile attack.

Ike noticed that the leader was no longer there. He frowned knowing full well that their boss escaped.

"The leader is gone." Ike announced. "Rout the enemy!"

The Greil Mercenaries agreed and the bandits started getting killed off one by one until their were no more. At the end of this, Gem collapsed from exhaustion. Boyd and Mia helped him to his feet.

"You okay?" Mia questioned.

"Just tired..." Gem murmured. He was ready to transform so he could rest but that couldn't happen anytime soon.

"Titania, is there any causalities?" Ike asked the second in command.

"Not that I'm aware of. The only casualties is to the entrance of the fort but otherwise I think we made it alive in one piece."

Ike sighed with relief. That relief was gone when he heard a scream. It came from the middle of the fort.

"MIST!"

* * *

Gustav and Gluttony awaited at the entrance of a humongous castle. The door was locked from the inside and no one could get out. This annoyed the fat man to no end but the lolita found it amusing. They weren't the only ones waiting outside though.

"So Leo," Gluttony began, "did Glacia lock the door on you again?"

She was talking to a guy at the age of twenty-one with spiky dark red hair and chocolate colored eyes. He had a bandage on his right cheek and wore all red. He carried a sword in his sheath. He looked obviously upset.

"It wasn't my fault!" He denied instantly. "I just was having a nice conversation with Shigeru and he got all mad and kicked me out!"

"Jealousy~" Gluttony said with a laugh.

"He does realize that he's making some of us wait because of his pitiful feelings..." Gustav grunted.

"You don't know what it's like to fall in love!" Leo spat.

"Does chasing after other attractive people and getting beaten up called love?"

"It is in a way!"

Gluttony laughed as she finished eating her lollipop. She got out another one from her pocket and began sucking on that one as well. "We can wait. We have all day. Besides, I want to know if my assassin succeeds or not."

"You mean Greed's assassin, right?"

"Doesn't matter to me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OC appearance references are listed below. In the past, I was lazy with describing what my OCs looked like and just had people go look up these anime characters to get a good image. 
> 
> Most of the rabbit tribe can be X character with huge bunny ears. The Society of Requiem tends to be from obscure series reference in comparison. 
> 
> When you think of Gem, think of Hunny from Ouran High School.
> 
> When you think of Shima, think of Shia from Pita Ten.
> 
> When you think of Gustav, think of an Oliver that wears dark clothing. No one can beat the amazing Oliver from Path of Radiance since that man is beautiful.
> 
> When you think of Gluttony, think of Rhode from D Gray Man only with pale vampire skin instead of black skin.
> 
> When you think of Leo, think of Recca from Flame of Recca. This character also appears in The Song of Hope.


	5. The King and his Tactician

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The assassin that Gluttony sent might actually be the end of a certain redhead but when the king of the rabbit tribe and his tactician appears on the scene, the Greil Mercenaries realize that they must defend Tellius for a third and hopefully a final time...

_This sucks. Ever since I saved that cute redhead, I can't get his figure out of my mind. Man have I lost it..._

_My right hand woman is scolding me again and I'm ignoring her. I don't want to hear her reasons for going out and helping the Beroc and Laguz. I just want to see one of my old friend's again. I can't do that if I don't make an official appearance though._

_"Are you listening to me Tempest?" She questions me. She's on the verge of losing it. It makes me wonder if it's that time of month. Teenagers._

_"I"m listening Periwinkle..." I mumble. She knows I'm not listening though._

_"Good. Then I want you to know that we shouldn't help anymore Beroc unless absolutely necessary."_

_"I understand." I tell her and then look away._

_When you have wings, you don't have to use your ears to fly. Periwinkle of course hasn't fully developed her wings yet so she has to use her ears. Why am I mentioning this? It's quite obvious. We are flying over the Crimea nation to get a beautiful view of Tellius._

_I caught a sight of a building. It seemed to be attacked by bandits. Why were so many bandits raiding a place like that? Without thinking, I flew in closer and Periwinkle continued to yell at me. She really needs to stop badgering me._

_Down there I saw the group that raided the hideout the night before. It seemed like they were now defending their base._

_"Don't even think about helping them!" Periwinkle shouted._

_I think I wouldn't have had helped them but I got a closer look at one of the fighters and sure enough it was a yellow rabbit kid. He was fighting among side the Beroc probably as a token of thanks for saving him. He seemed really happy._

_I looked around more and I saw another one of my tribe. It was a black rabbit. And here I thought I was the last of the black rabbits. However, she didn't seem to fit the stereotype as she was healing that Branded kid over there. He seemed to be yelling at the redhead._

_The mercenaries seem to be winning when the leader and that girl disappeared but that was far from the case. That girl dispatched an assassin that manage to sneak past the fighting and past the frontlines._

_"Shit!" I cursed. The assassin was going for the black rabbit and he might end up killing those around her in the process._

_"Tempest, what are you doing?" She asked me as I got out a dark tome._

_"I'm saving my own kind!" I declared. "You said I can't help the Beroc but there are two rabbits among them. A perfect reason to make an appearance."_

_"But-"_

_"Chill! They already left, so what can they report?"_

_She groaned and allowed me to open the tome. It would only take a few minutes to cast the spell but if the assassin doesn't dawdle, that girl with the brown hair might die. It doesn't matter to me though. My concerns are the rabbits and that guy._

* * *

Shinon let his guard down and that was because he was certain that the Greil Mercenaries took care of the bandits. He was so damn wrong. He and Soren didn't notice the presence of the last one until it was too late. The assassin already seized Shima and attacked Mist. Mist's miracle skill is a real life saver for her. She only got hit in the knee from one of the daggers that was thrown at her, but the shock of getting attacked made her scream and it made him realize how foolish he was.

"MIST!" He heard Ike call out. He was so screwed. More screwed than Soren.

The screaming was too much. The assassin was getting annoyed with Shima's cries for help and ended up putting a knife to her throat.

"If you scream anymore, I will kill you." He warned in a dark vicious tone.

Shima shivered. Terrified that she might die, she kept quiet. Her staff was too far away from her to bonk the guy on his head.

The situation was obvious. If anyone moved, Shima would die. Mist might die as well if she moved because she was in range of his daggers and miracle won't save her a second time. Now Soren couldn't care less about the rabbit girl but if Mist were to die, Ike would not be a happy person and he couldn't stand the person he cared for the most to grief so he didn't dare cast a wind spell on the assassin even if their was a chance that his attack could save them all.

Shinon couldn't shoot his bow. If he even raised his bow, he might as well look like he was attacking and both girls might end up dead. _Damn!_

The assassin realized he had to leave now if he wanted to getaway with the girl. The Greil Mercenaries were coming to him and fast. There was a problem with that though. He caught a glimpse of Shinon and something about him rubbed him the wrong way.

 _He looks like that woman that ruined everything for us._ He thought darkly to himself. _He's dead._

Shinon realized too late that the assassin was looking directly at him ready to kill him in one fatal blow. He couldn't get his bow ready in time to defend himself. Soren realized too late as well.

"Shinon-"

"Shi-"

"DIE!"

The assassin threw the dagger at Shinon. The redhead was knowing for having terrible luck. He wouldn't get away with a simple bruise like Mist.

**_Foolish human. You'll stupidity is your downfall. Drown in darkness forever..._ **

The assassin had no idea what hit him. A dark spell hit him with such a force that the assassin ended up vanishing in thin air. He ended up dropping Shima who was also hit by the attack but was completely unaffected by the attack. Mist was really lucky not to get hit by the attack.

"That's what you get for attacking the innocent."

The hero appeared in front of Shima. The marksmen's eyes widened. It was the same guy that got him out of the jam a few nights ago. The black wings proved it. The redhead got to see the whole figure this time. It was indeed a man like he predicted. The man appeared to be in his thirties and had short spiky purple hair and onyx colored eyes. He wore all black similar to what the fat man wore but it made him more handsome than any guy he had ever seen. The giveaway that he was indeed a laguz was the long black ears that sprouted from his head.

"I hope you're not harmed little one..." He spoke in a calm tone.

"It's you..." Was all Shima could reply as her face turned a bright pink.

Whatever the black rabbit did it made the younger pass out. There was only a simple "Oops" after that.

Soren paid no heed to the savior and he carried Mist a few feet away from them. The archsage quickly got out a stave and began healing Mist's injury.

"MIST!"

Ike the rest of the Greil Mercenaries came. The bluenette ran over to his sister and tactician and asked Soren if she was okay.

"She only has a minor injury and she just fainted, but she'll be okay."

Ike was contempt with that answer. He couldn't afford to lose his sister. That brought him to the question of where was the one who hurt his sister? Gatrie went over to Shinon and helped him stand since the ambush knocked him down. The black rabbit glanced at the Greil Mercenaries and sighed. Their leader was eyeing him suspiciously. He had some explaining to do.

* * *

Ike was not convinced that the black rabbit saved his sister. Normally, he would forgive anyone who saved her, but this was the first time where he couldn't trust this guy Laguz or not. Shinon couldn't thank the black rabbit for saving him either. It wasn't in his style to thank anyone...but he wanted to.

Gem wouldn't leave Shinon alone. In fact, he looked really upset about something and the redhead didn't even notice.

"I'm sorry for my king's rudeness." A voice uttered.

There was a girl behind the black rabbit the whole time. The girl appeared to be sixteen at heart. She had short hair that was a shade of violet. She looked like the type to be a bookworm but her clothes said otherwise. She was a Laguz as well due to the purple rabbit ears that were on her head. Unlike the black rabbit though, she had very small purple wings that resembled more of a bat than a bird. Compared to the older male rabbit, she seemed reliable and trustworthy.

"I told him that to get into Beroc affairs but he wouldn't listen." She complained making her come off as a not so friendly individual.

"It's okay." Ike began. "I have him to thank for saving my sister."

The purple rabbit glared at the black rabbit for two reasons. One, she told him not to save a Beroc and the other being that she knew what he was going to say next which would put them on bad terms. They didn't need to make enemies with the Hero of Tellius.

"I'm sorry to say this but I didn't come here to save your sister." He responded harshly. "I only came here to save one of my kind."

To the girl's surprise, Ike didn't seem angry. The bluenette seem to understand.

"Regardless, you have my gratitude."

The black rabbit smirked. "I forgot to introduce myself. I am Tempest. King of the Rabbit Tribe. This is my wonderful tactician Periwinkle-" He was cut off when Ike asked.

"There was one more Laguz tribe?"

Ike glanced at Soren. Soren gave the 'Don't look at me' look. It was apparent that another Laguz tribe was clearly unknown up to today.

"Yes. You see, we rabbits don't like revealing ourselves to Beroc so we hide from them and erase any trace of us to keep us safe." Periwinkle explained.

This was a surprise to Ike. During the Mad King's War and beyond, the Greil Mercenaries seem to travel all over the continent of Tellius. Not once did he see them. Heck, he was lucky to find the heron's but to not notice rabbits...

"But because our tribe is spread out across Tellius," Periwinkle continued, "others are starting to find out about us and are trying to capture us due for stupid purposes."

"The slave trading is over." Ike told them. "Empress Sanaki made sure of it in Bengion."

"I'm sure she did." Tempest said with a laugh not at all sounding convinced despite his smile saying otherwise.

"Even if she did it's not stopping for us." Periwinkle said with a sigh. "And I think it's pretty obvious that it's not just in Bengion."

It was true. The man that hired them was probably a slave trader as well, but he didn't look like it. He seemed to actually care for Gem's well being.

"What do you mean by spread out?" Titania questioned.

Periwinkle sighed. "We lived in Serenes Forest. I'm sure the Greil Mercenaries know that heron tribe were massacred during the Serenes Massacre, correct? Well, not only were the herons exterminated but the rabbit tribe suffered as well. Most of our tribe were killed and those that survived were taken away into slavery..."

"How come we never hear about this from Caineghis or Tibarn?" Ike wondered. If Tempest was indeed a king of the lost rabbit tribe, then why didn't they know?

To answer that question, the Laguz Kings didn't know that there were surviving members of the Wolf Tribe either.

"Which is why we need someone to locate the rest of the survivors," Periwinkle finished.

"And we would do this because?" Soren asked. He wouldn't allow these strangers to persuade Ike in doing what they should be doing. He let Ranulf slide because the cat boy and Ike were friends.

"We might not look like it, but we actually pay a lot for those who do our work." Periwinkle said in a challenging voice. "The mission won't be too hard for the Greil Mercenaries who saved Tellius not once but twice."

Ike couldn't even protest as Periwinkle continued.

"We know that you got us Laguz to trust Beroc and we are putting our faith in you."

"Wait a minute!"

"What?"

"How are we suppose to find-"

"The redhead found the yellow rabbit and black rabbit correct?"

"It was mere coincidence." Titania stated.

"It isn't coincidence. It's fate."

Tempest rolled his eyes. He didn't believe in fate but he did know for a fact that it took a strange power to bring the rabbits out into the open.

Soren and Titania turned to Ike to see what he would do. The bluenette was in deep thought. This wasn't his decision really. It was Shinon's decision more than his but since he was the commander and the likelihood of Shinon agreeing to this was improbable. He had to make the choice in the end.

"We accept on only one condition." Ike stated.

Tempest eyed the Hero of Tellius. "And what is that."

"That you'll supply us with anything we need and help us out when absolutely necessary."

"Now why would we-"

"Deal!" Tempest said with a grin. This is going as he planned. He could get any supplies from those that hold his clan members.

Everyone else in the room didn't like this one bit. The Greil Mercenaries wouldn't hear the end of it from Shinon.

* * *

Ike called the Greil Mercenaries for a meeting later on in the evening. Everyone except Shinon was there. Chances were that he already heard that they were helping the Laguz and didn't want to hear the whole story why.

Instead, he insisted on staying with Shima who was still unconscious. Gem decided to stay with him as well.

Tempest and Periwinkle assumedly left but the black rabbit refused to leave without seeing someone.

"You're impossible!" Periwinkle shouted and flew off.

Tempest could only laugh as he searched the house where the rabbit's were staying in. He considered himself lucky to see Shinon leaving that house and forcing the yellow rabbit to stay inside.

The marksmen glanced up and noticed the black rabbit flying toward him. He planned on going back inside but it was too late.

"Hey, aren't you suppose to be at the meeting?" Tempest questioned. It was the wrong question though.

"I am but I already know he agreed to help you Sub-Humans." Shinon answered.

Taken back Tempest was by the words. If it was Periwinkle, she would have lashed out at whoever said those words but Tempest could tell they were just words.

"Oh. Wouldn't your captain punish you for disobeying orders?"

"I do this all the time and I haven't been kicked out."

Tempest sighed. The redhead wasn't what he imagined.

"Is there a reason why you're still here?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I assume that Ike asked you to leave after you made some sort of deal..."

"He did but I don't feel like leaving yet."

"Stupid Sub-Human."

Tempest shook his head. The redhead didn't have that submissive personality so his plans of sweet talking him just went down the drain. He might as well leave before he started getting affected by the word 'Sub-Human'.

"Well, if you want me to leave so badly, I'll leave."

Tempest spread his wings and was going to take flight.

"Hey, what's your name?" Shinon asked.

"Tempest, why?"

"...Thank you..."

"Huh?"

"You got me out of a jam twice and I told myself I would thank the person regardless...but you won't get anything else from me because you're a Sub-Human."

Tempest grinned. "Your welcome." He flew in front of Shinon and gave a perverted smirk. "Since you put it that way, I'll rescue whenever you need rescuing."

"Wha?"

"See ya hun."

The marksman had no saying when Tempest flew off. He just stared at the sky stunned with a very confused expression before it would soon warp to anger at being referred to as a chick.

* * *

Periwinkle frowned when she saw her king return to her side. She was listening to the meeting with the Greil Mercenaries when he decided to leave her. She overheard some of the members (mainly Boyd and Gatrie) complain about the mission. It wasn't a walk in the park mission and they might not even return back to this place.

"I think we should have told them more..." Periwinkle mumbled.

"They will all learn eventually." Tempest said with a laugh. "If you tell them what to suspect on this adventure, then it takes away the suspense."

"...I wish you didn't have to use Beroc in this. If you really wanted help, I think you could have paid a visit to the Bird Tribe."

"I could but you know Tibarn and I aren't on good terms because of the Serenes Massacre."

"Who said you were going to speak with Tibarn? You could talk to Naesala about this."

"Nope. Even if we're friends, Tibarn is the leader of the Bird Tribe. I know Naesala's cunning ways. He's trying to change himself and if I come along, Naesala might find himself dead."

"Whatever! You could have asked other members of the Laguz tribes!"

"Sorry if you are prejudice against Beroc but they were the only options in a time like this. The Dragon Tribe is finally starting to open itself to the world and they don't need another problem to deal with. And the Beast Tribe is in danger of being targeted by them. If we ask them for help, I might have to deal with claws at my throat as well as them being targeted sooner..."

"...You sure are thoughtful...or are you a sadist for letting humans do it?"

"Maybe a little bit of both...but I think its safe to say that I need them to come to that place first for more of a explanation..."

Periwinkle groaned. Having her king reveal one of their underground hideouts annoyed her to no end but what could she do about it?

"I understand. We will tell them when they are about to leave."

"Good."

* * *

After a long wait, the door finally opens...

"WHO IS MY SAVIOR?"

"Leo, just shut up. It's late."

"Why the fuck did I have to wait that long?"

"You could have done something else."

"I had to apologize to Glacia, Shigeru!"

Shigeru laughed. The one who allowed Leo to finally come into the castle was a guy to be in his mid-thirties. He had wavy brown hair and green eyes. He wore all black similar to what almost everyone else in the castle was wearing but what stood out was that he had a sword on his right side and a bow and arrows on his back. If you look closely, there were also some spell books where he kept his arrows.

"You look like you're ready to go on a mission..." Leo mumbled.

"I am going on a mission. But first, everyone must meet up with our boss."

Leo pouted. "Do I have to?"

"Yes. Nemi found a way to counter the black rabbit at long last."

"Didn't take him that long..."

"Just get your ass in the throne room!"

"Okay! Damn! If only we had elevators..."

"Huh?"

Leo rushed toward the throne room before Shigeru could ask what the hell he was talking about.

 _I guess that's to be expected being from another world with advance technology._ Shigeru thought to himself.

* * *

Leo stormed into the throne room like he always did. That earned him glares from the no nonsense people in the room. Leo looked around and noticed that a few members were absent minus Shigeru who didn't count. He saw Nemi speaking to their boss who was sitting in this high chair that was too high for anyone to reach.

"You are late."

Leo froze when he heard the voice. The voice belonged to the guy he was smitten with. Glacia was his name and it was obvious why he was in love with him. Glacia was one of those pretty boys with a feminine figure. He had long white hair that he tied with a hair pin and blue eyes. People called him the ice prince because of his ability to harness ice which no one in this world could do. Glacia was glaring at the masculine of the two.

"Sorry. Someone locked me out of the castle."

"You could have went around." Gustav said with a laugh.

"Fuck that. Where's Gluttony fat ass?"

"Don't call me fat you fucking-"

Both were silenced when he glared at them. He was their boss' right hand man. His name was Atsuki. He looked to be thirty-three exact. Leo swore that this guy was a Nazi having the long blonde hair that was tied similar to Glacia's hair and blue eyes. His glare was enough to bring fear to even the strongest men around. It scared him because Leo wondered if he would have his guts sliced out of him. Yes, Atsuki was a Trueblade that made him more terrifying.

"Be quiet." Atsuki mumbled in a dark tone.

The two silenced immediately which earned a laugh from two female members of the group and a yawn from other young male. Atsuki glared at them as well. While the girls silenced immediately, the young male seemed oblivious to the glare.

"I'm ready to speak to everyone..."

Atsuki turned around to see Nemi behind him.

Nemi was the youngest member of the group up to date being a ten year old prodigy. He had short brown hair and huge green eyes. The unique thing about him was that he wore something over his eyes which were called glasses. This item allowed him to see things from a far distance better. No one could really hate the kid because of his kind demeanor and his hatred for fighting.

"Speak." Atsuki said simply.

"Hey, everyone isn't here yet!" Leo stated the obvious.

"I'm here."

Leo jumped back when he noticed Shigeru's presence.

"Are you a ninja or something?"

"Nope, but I'm preparing for my great escape."

Atsuki snarled at Shigeru and like everyone else, he silenced immediately.

"Gluttony is getting scolded by Greed." Gustav explained. "She won't be able to make it. As for Sloth, I'm sure she's with Gluttony."

"The same with Envy." Glacia finished.

"Exactly. Can't expect much from brats."

Nemi frowned.

"Hey! You can't speak to Nemi like that!"

Nemi glanced up. The one who spoke up for him was a girl named Aussa. She appeared to be sixteen years old. She had orange hair that she put in pigtails and blue eyes. She wore a skirt that resembled that of a school girl. She had a fire in her eyes that didn't go away whenever someone criticized Nemi.

"I didn't mean the kid Aussa. I'm talking about brats like you, Envy and them."

He pointed to a group of teenagers. One of them was a blond and responded by shouting at the fat man but the one with the black hair calmed him down. The one that yawned was unaffected as well as the other who just smirked evilly in response.

"Everyone silence!" Atsuki barked causing everyone in the room to settle down. "Start Nemi."

"Okay." Nemi cleared his throat before he began, "As you know, our leader wanted me to search for a way to take on the rabbit tribe head on. While we have captured many of them, the ones that escaped are the most powerful and they will surely reunite and reveal us. This is where I come in and find a way to prevent that and I have found a way."

"What is it?" Leo questioned.

"I uncovered the secrets of this scroll I found in the desert area near Bengion." Nemi explained. "It wasn't easy to find and decipher it. Those beasts scared me but getting to the point, the scroll says something like this...

**The black rabbit is a sign of bad luck to those who are against him. He will stop at nothing to bring justice. He has no weakness or so everyone thinks. To bring him to an end and take what is rightfully yours, you must do these things that will affect him directly and indirectly...**

**A.) Bring the world into chaos.**

**B.) Find these two people. The one that can bring the rabbit tribe together and the one that can melt the black rabbit's heart.**

**When these two objectives are met, the black rabbit will weaken greatly along with his tribe and will meet his end when he is slain with the divine blade Lionheart.** "

That earned an applause from Aussa and Leo and surprisingly Glacia.

"That's our Nemi!" Aussa cheered.

"There's more," Nemi said quickly and continued, "This is for the white rabbit.

**The white rabbit is a sign of good luck to those who strive for peace. She will prevent the world from ever falling into chaos again if she isn't stop. Like the black rabbit, she is said to have no weakness but she does. To defeat her in battle, you must do things that will affect her directly and indirectly...**

**A.) Bring the world into chaos.**

**B.) Cause grief to major individuals.**

**When these objectives are met, she will no longer be pure and she'll be wide open to be slain by the divine blade Lionheart.** "

"So bringing the world into chaos is all we need to lure out both of them?" Leo asked trying to put this into memory.

"Exactly." Shigeru said to his rather slow friend.

"So, what brings the world into chaos?"

"War." Atsuki answered in a bitter tone. "The Mad King's War and the war Bengion had with the Laguz Alliance almost brought this world into chaos. We would have been able to make our move if it wasn't stop by the Greil Mercenaries twice."

"This proves that the Beroc in this world are intelligent." The lazy kid said with a laugh.

Again, Atsuki glared at the teenager but he was unaffected due to having his eyes clothed when he yawned. The kid would have thought twice if he was paying attention.

"Yoko, we don't need your fucking opinion!" Gustav spat.

Yoko yawned again in response. He was one of the four teenagers and he seemed to be the youngest. He had brown hair that he tied up and brown eyes. He wore a white robe instead of a black one but that showed he was indeed rebellious and he didn't care.

"Indeed."

Everyone turned to their leader who giggled in response to Yoko's comment.

"The Beroc and Laguz are not to be underestimated. Many do stupid things but the Greil Mercenaries are the reason why the world failed to die twice. To make sure our plan succeeds, we must watch over them and then kill them when the time is right."

Atsuki nodded his head.

When the leader said that though, Greed came storming into the throne room completely out of breath. The guy appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He wore all black from head to toe and covered his face with a cloth preventing people from seeing his face. Only his brown eyes were visible.

"Greed, what happened?" Leo asked.

"Gluttony that bitch!" He cursed. "She sent one of my assassin to retrieve two of the rabbit's that the Greil Mercenaries have and that black rabbit appeared and killed him. He was one of my best guys!"

The boss cocked his eyebrow. "Oh really? Who was the one that the black rabbit saved?"

"Beside members of his tribe, he saved a Beroc with red hair."

At the description, Shigeru paled slightly but no one noticed. The boss grinned in response. "This is perfect. I think we found the one that will bring the rabbit together."

Greed's eyes widened.

"Send Sloth to investigate just in case."

"Are you sure you want to send someone as inexperienced as her?" Atsuki questioned. "She will likely fail."

"That's fine. I just need to confirm if my assumption is correct."

Greed mumbled something and disappeared to tell her to head out. Nemi only glanced at Aussa. He sighed in relief that it wasn't her that was sent out. The brunette didn't like their boss because he had low regard for many of his powerful subordinates except the ones that were truly important to him. In a corner of the room a low roar could be heard.

* * *

"Sloth, you have a mission." Greed told her.

Sloth slowly turned her head to Greed. She looked ready to cry but that was in her personality. She looked to be thirteen. She had dark purple hair and purple eyes. She wore clothes that covered her entire body. She had a depressing aura around her. She was easily manipulated and Greed hates that. The two were in a strange laboratory like room. Gluttony and another man was in there as well. Gluttony was sucking on her lollipop when he said this. She couldn't help but smile. It was a creepy one...

"I see...so this is the mission where I can die?"

"Don't say that Sloth!" Greed shouted. "You can succeed this mission if you just investigate and not get caught."

"That won't happen." Gluttony said in a cheerful tone. "Our boss wants her to engage in combat with the Greil Mercenaries. She won't come out alive."

"Shut it you bitch. I won't forgive you for bribing one of my soldiers for your sick game."

"What can I say? Gustav wanted the rabbits, not me. But you can't yell at the higher ups so you settle with me."

"Gluttony, I think its best to be quiet despite you giving a good hypothesis." Murmured a cracked voice.

The trio froze. They were in the presence of Nakahito the psychotic but handsome scientist. He was exactly twenty-seven. He had brown hair and green eyes and wore glasses like Nemi. People wondered if the two were related but it couldn't be because Nakahito was a maniac while Nemi was a kind hearted soul that didn't want to hurt anyone.

"Now Greed, I know you're worried about Sloth's well-being and all but Gluttony has a point. These Greil Mercenaries are powerful if they could take down Ashnard and Ashera. This is why I'll offer her my assistance."

Greed looked to be happy but his high hopes for the professor fell.

"Take this."

Nakahito walked over to the depressed girl and handed her a wristband. A suffocating aura was surrounding the item.

"This will make you powerful by ten fold. With it, you might be able to survive the battle."

"Really, she can kill them all with this?" Greed asked in a hopeful tone.

"No. Just survive." Nakahito said with a laugh."It will also give you the power to use illusions."

Gluttony threw her lollipop on the ground and stormed off screaming. "SLOTH ALWAYS GETS THE BEST ITEMS!"

Nakahito's evil smile only became wider when he said that. He even added. "There is a price if you choose to use the power of this wristband. What it is? I don't even know myself."

Greed glared at the older male. "You sick bastard."

"Hey, the price might be good for someone like this girl. I must ask you to go with her."

"Why should I?"

"Well...maybe not with her, but I want you to go to this burned site and collect some samples. I need it for my next experiment."

"And that destination?"

"A house that was burned shortly after the Serenes Massacre."

Greed couldn't say no because a growl was heard behind Nakahito. If he said no, then he would die and become a experiment for this insane man.

"I'll do it, but I'll tell you this. If I find out that Sloth is killed, then I won't hesitate to assassinate you."

Nakahito smiled. "Fine by me."

Greed grunted as he took Sloth's hand and walked out of the lab. Nakahito turned behind him and laughed.

"It's almost done. Just a few more samples and I can bring an angel back to life!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 6016 words. References for people who want a vague reference of OC appearance (such is the problem with old stories). 
> 
> When you think of Tempest, think of Dark from D N Angel.
> 
> When you think of Periwinkle think of Mint from Galaxy Angel only with purple hair.
> 
> Now for the bad guys. The organization name will be named in due time but there are 24 main members of this organization. They are...
> 
> 1\. Unnamed boss.
> 
> 2\. Atsuki a Trueblade (Think of Nakago from Fushigi Yugi)
> 
> 3\. Nakahito (Think of Nagi Springfield from Negima)
> 
> 4\. Unnamed member
> 
> 5\. Nemi (Think of Negi from Negima)
> 
> 6\. Unnamed member
> 
> 7\. Leo
> 
> 8\. Glacia (Think of Tokiya from Flame of Recca)
> 
> 9\. Aussa (Think of Asuna from Negima)
> 
> 10\. Gustav
> 
> 11\. Shigeru (Think of Kiyomaro from Konjiki No Gash Bell)
> 
> 12\. Unnamed teenager member
> 
> 13\. Yoko (Think of Yoh from Shaman King)
> 
> 14\. Unnamed blonde member
> 
> 15\. Unnamed black haired member
> 
> 16\. Unnamed member
> 
> 17\. Unnamed member
> 
> 18\. Greed an Assassin
> 
> 19\. Unnamed member
> 
> 20\. Unnamed female member
> 
> 21\. Unnamed female member
> 
> 23\. Envy (Unknown appearance)
> 
> 24\. Sloth (Think of Hotaru from Sailor Moon)
> 
> This list will be at the end of the chapter and will be updated as the story moves along. Keep an eye on the members because some have a huge role in the stories while others will be tossed aside and die. The list is what number they are in the organization which the bottom usually means the weakest but that isn't always the case as some members rely on intelligence to move up in ranks while others have a relationship with a certain character that makes them have a certain position.


	6. Trouble Arises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble arises in Gallia when Ranulf can't break up a fight with his comrades. What has gotten into the Gallian men? And the enemy make their move on the Greil Mercenaries when they reach a familiar village.

Gallia was ruled by the new lion king Skrimir when Caineghis stepped down from the throne. All was peaceful when he became ruler. The king's right hand commander Ranulf and those that worked under him made sure that nothing would go wrong. It was going well until recently.

Recently, there has been incidents of fighting between the cat and tiger species. The reason for the fighting is unknown and Kyza and Lyre were sent to investigate while Lethe and Mordecai broke up any fight or stopped any fight from happening.

Skrimir planned on seeing to the problem himself but Ranulf assured him that everything was under control and it was...until today.

Today the fight seem to be different. The fight seemed to be more violent than the others. By violent includes turning into their beast form and attacking the other. At first, it was just simple claws and kicking but now, the two Laguz seem to be out for blood. Lethe and Mordecai transformed into their beast form but that only made it worse. It was getting annoying.

"All right, break it up!" Ranulf shouted at the angry Laguz.

The Laguz that were crowding around the fight ended up stepping aside. Mordecai manage to pin the cat Laguz on the ground and get him to turn back into his regular form. Lethe injured the tiger Laguz by clawing at its front legs. The tiger Laguz however didn't seem bothered.

Annoyed that he was getting ignored, Ranulf proceeded to put the tiger Laguz in his place. Stepping too close to the battle though was a bad idea when not transformed. It surprised him when the tiger Laguz lashed out at him. He dodged in time but...

A roar could be heard and all the beast tribe members stopped whatever they were doing. Their king made his way to the scene.

"Are you sure everything is under control?" Skrimir questioned the blue cat.

Ranulf had no answer. This was the first time anybody actually attacked him. Normally, they would respect him but the tiger Laguz just...

Lethe saw her chance to pin the tiger Laguz down and he too turned back into his normal form. However, there was something different about his normal form. The tiger Laguz had red eyes for one thing and it was abnormal for any member of the beast tribe to have red eyes. Also, there seem to be strange markings on his body.

"If you don't have anything to say, then take those two in for questioning. There will be no tolerance of this behavior." Skrimir demanded in an adamant tone.

Ranulf could only nod his head. Unknown to the blue cat Laguz, the tiger was snarling at him the whole time.

* * *

_It was embarrassing. I failed to protect Shinon…well...if it weren't for Mr. Tempest then he would have died. I tried to make up for him and he makes me sad because he said I did nothing wrong. Everything was wrong! I promised myself to protect him but yesterday demonstrated that I'm not cut out to protect him. But I have to. I fear that if I don't get stronger, then something bad will happen to him._

_So, when he is alone, I'll ask Mr. Tempest what I should do to protect him._

_Shinon needs to stop zoning out..._

* * *

_Damn, Periwinkle is on to me! She doesn't want me helping the Greil Mercenaries anymore than I already did. Does she have to be so damn racist toward them? I personally like their leader or rather his sister. Yes, I admit that she's cute for a kid. Ike seems to be the type of person to be overprotective of his younger sister though. I should give up my infatuation with her right now before her brother stabs me in the head with Ragnell. Shinon seems easier to get though. On the other hand...that blond guy seems really close with him...ah screw that! All is fair in love and war...is that how it goes?_

* * *

The Greil Mercenaries left in the early morning for unknown reasons. Shinon wouldn't know of course but it probably had to do with either Ike or Soren. Turns out that Ike made a compromise with Soren and Titania that they would get the job done faster if they woke up early because they assumed that the rest of the rabbit tribe was staying in one location.

Shinon didn't get any sleep the previous night and he had Tempest to blame. After what he said to him, he couldn't get him out of his mind...and that annoyed him.

That and waking up early caused him to be extremely quiet mainly because he was zoning out. He wasn't the only one of course but it was rare for the marksmen to look tired.

Gem wasn't the only one who noticed. Gatrie noticed as well and thus stayed close to his friend in cased he past out which was highly unlikely.

The yellow rabbit looked at Tempest the entire time hoping he would get the hint in wanting to train with him. Tempest saw this as the yellow rabbit being overprotective over Shinon and refused to look behind him the whole time.

* * *

"Glacia, come back!"

"..."

"Glacia! Why are you mad?"

"Leave me alone, Leo."

Leo stopped chasing after the ice prince and glared at him. "What are you mad about?"

Glacia stopped walking and turned toward the fire guy and glared pack. "You know why."

"I don't."

Glacia rolled his eyes and started walking down the castle halls again. Leo gave chase but ended up crashing into someone.

"Ah! I'm sorry!"

"It's okay..."

Leo looked at the guy he bumped into and sighed. It was none other than Shibuya, one of the teenagers. He didn't mind this guy because he had the equanimity of an adult most of the time. He had black eyes and black hair and wore a Japanese school uniform that Leo lent to him because during a training mission, his clothes were burned as a result of getting too close to Leo's flames. He looked to be sixteen at heart.

"Shibuya, great to see you! Do you know where Glacia went?" Leo questioned as he helped the black haired teen up.

Shibuya wanted to answer but when he heard a familiar voice, he looked ready to make haste.

"He probably went to visit Pride for sword training, but take my advice and stay away from him. I got to go...NOW!"

"SHIBUYA, YOU WUSS!"

Shibuya was gone just like that. Leo could only sigh in annoyance. Shibuya only lost his composure when he was around the blond teenager Wolf. Wolf was the complete opposite of Shibuya and thus did he consider him annoying. The teen had blond hair and blue eyes like Atsuki and appeared to be sixteen.

 _Why do all the blonds around here have to be so pompous?_ Leo questioned as Wolf pushed past him to catch up to Shibuya. If he was correct, Shibuya would be caught this time.

* * *

The Greil Mercenaries made it to the first rabbit base hours later. It wasn't that far from the Greil Mercenary Fort though so they could go back when needed. It was also close to a Crimean village, which was good for them too. They could ask the villagers for information about anything out of the ordinary.

Gatrie took this time to flirt with the village girls resulting in Shinon becoming moody afterward. Tempest saw this as a chance to get at the redhead but when Gem left to "gather information", he came back with an angry Gatrie behind him.

"Damn you! Do you like ruining my romantic streak or something?"

"There was nothing but puppy love there!" Gem protested and transformed back into his rabbit form in order to hop over to Shinon and stay in his arms.

"He has a point."

Gem realized sooner that whenever Gatrie came back because of being rejected by the girls, the redhead would be unusually happy. To keep him happy, he would have to do this all the time even if he died doing it.

"Shinon, aren't you going to train that thing?" Gatrie asked in an annoyed tone.

"Nope. In fact, if you keep swooning over girls that don't care about you then he'll keep attacking you."

"You really are going to be the end of my love life..."

"I don't think you'll ever have a love life."

Gatrie mumbled about how cruel Shinon was before proceeding to leave. The marksmen turned his head toward the marshall. He wanted to say to say something to the blonde but couldn't muster the courage to do so.

_Dammit...that idiot._

Gem could only frown when the blond didn't realize that his friend was upset of him leaving them alone.

* * *

In truth, the village that the Greil Mercenaries were in was actually a village they helped often after the Mad King was taken down. This village seem to always have problems with bandits and the Greil Mercenaries could easily take them down and earn a pay to last them for an entire week.

That's what Soren couldn't figure out. The village was so small yet they had money stashed somewhere. What were they trading from Bengion that allowed them to give out money away to mercenaries yet they couldn't make the village any bigger?

Ike didn't think about the trivial things. As long as the people were happy (and as long as he had his chicken) he would be fine.

Titania found the elder of the village surprisingly gentle. He was a lonely old man, yet the village respected him for his wisdom. But she noted that whenever he talked about his son and grandkids, he always wore a sullen expression. He mentioned many times that he wished to see his grandkids at the very least, but apparently, they were killed by someone. From the dialogue, he implied that it was a Laguz from the beast tribe but wouldn't go into any detail.

However, it didn't take a genius to notice that whenever the old man tried to speak to Shinon, the redhead wouldn't even realize that he existed and would walk away. It was in the marksmen's personality to be cruel but in the past, but Shinon always respected his elders, so this behavior was rather odd.

Since the Rabbit Cave was so close to the village, Tempest and Periwinkle decided it would be best if they stayed out of sight from the humans.

"Young lady." The elder of the village was speaking to Mist. "Where are you going at this hour?"

Mist smiled as she pointed to a small cave that was in the middle of the village that went down. "I'm going to go pray to the angel statue in there."

The elder nodded as he told the people at the entrance of that cave to let the valkyrie through. Mist slowly went inside the cave. It was odd. Despite being the light of the small village, something about the place was unsettling. Whenever she came in here to pray to the angel statue, she felt a sort of sadness from it.

"Huh? Is someone there?"

Mist thought she heard someone behind her. When she turned around, no one was there. She was a frequent occurrence whenever they were in the village. She felt that someone was always trying to sneak up behind her and this was no exception. Once she turned to see what was behind her, there was nothing but her shadow.

_Again..._

* * *

"Tempest, why are we hiding out again?" Periwinkle questioned. "I don't see why we don't just turn ourselves into our Laguz form and just sit on their shoulder."

"I wouldn't be able to do that." Tempest said simply. "You know how the king of each tribe is larger than his men. It'd be a little too suspicious."

"True."

"Besides." Tempest showed a perverted grin as he faced Periwinkle or rather or small undeveloped breasts. "I'd get lonely if I wasn't with you."

That earned a kick in the groin from the purple rabbit. He jumped around covering his private area but Periwinkle knew that he wasn't that effected like the average man would be.

"Oww!"

"Serves you right. You may be the king, but you're still an idiot."

"I'm wounded."

Tempest stopped his childish rants when he opened his ears to listen to his surroundings. Since he had bigger ears than Periwinkle, he could hear things from miles away.

"Tempest?"

"Shh. I hear voices."

Periwinkle kept quiet as she raised her ears upward to hear better. Sure enough she could hear the voices that her king was hearing and they sounded quite close.

**_"Commander Sloth, this must be the place."_ **

**_"I know...this is the Village of the Angels. Nemi has told us that the Greil Mercenaries came here often after the Mad King's War to complete missions for money. However, when someone with a pure heart prays to the angel statue, it will respond to that person. Rabbits love people with pure hearts so they'd likely start a small union here and expand afterwards. We must retrieve the rabbits now."_ **

**_"But what about those two people that Nemi mentioned in order to beat the black and white rabbit?"_ **

**_"The white rabbit can wait. When all major threats are out of the way, she will appear. As for the black rabbit, I feel the one that can bring the rabbit tribe together is near. My senses can't directly tell who it is but if I engage that person in battle, I can determine who it is."_ **

**_"But will it be necessary? I mean, Greed does not want you in battle."_ **

**_"As a member of the Society, I must do my part...after all...I'm expandable."_ **

Tempest could hear footsteps from not two but maybe thirty soldiers behind the Commander's young voice. He frowned.

"This is not good."

"If they get into the village, it will be burned to the ground!" Periwinkle exclaimed.

"Shit...I guess I got to reveal myself again...and I hate asserting myself!" Tempest whined as he transformed into his Laguz form and flew out of the cave.

"W-Wait! Damn, he's being reckless again..." Periwinkle muttered as she followed him in her Beroc form.

* * *

When you're a group of highly skilled mercenaries, you can't help but feel that something bad will happen if you stay in one place. Ike noted that the village was rather quiet but that was because an unknown army was approaching. Some of the soldiers wore the same emblem as the army that attacked their base yesterday.

The village elder came out to speak to the young commander of the group.

"My is this a surprise!" He exclaimed. He didn't seem that thrilled though. "Is there something you need?"

"Yes." The commander replied. "I have come here because of the rabbits."

The village elder shook his head. "I do not know of the location of these rabbits you speak of."

"Lies. This is the village of the angels. You have some power that allows you to sense their locations. I've been traveling here and I noticed it too. So don't play dumb and tell me where they are hiding. If you don't, I'll ask my soldiers to search your entire village."

"This is absurd young lady. What is there to search for when it isn't here?"

"...If not the rabbit tribe then how about the Greil Mercenaries?"

"Hmm?"

"You heard me. If the rabbits aren't what you're hiding, then it is those mercenaries. I know they've been here a lot taking foolish requests from you."

The old man was silent. "They are not here. They are probably at their fort."

"If that was true, then our men wouldn't have been wiped out when we came to retrieve the two rabbits."

"Even so, what makes you think they are he-"

The young commander had enough of the old man talking. She was normally serene but the more excuses he came up with, the more she couldn't control her anger. She took her lance and impaled him in the stomach. Her soldiers did not expect her to be so violent.

"Commander Sloth, that's taking it too far!" One of her soldiers shouted.

"Keep your mouth shut..." she muttered. The wristband she was wearing was starting to glow a black color. "Search the place from top to bottom. If the villagers don't tell you anything, kill them. When we're done, burn the village."

"But commander-"

"Are you disobeying my command?"

"...No..."

Ike frowned when he saw the soldiers marching into the village. It was best to regroup and form a plan.

* * *

The bluenette was not pleased when he entered the largest hut in the village. It was the one where guest stayed when they were tired. They had often stayed here during the time between after the Mad King's War and the Crimean Rebellion. The upstairs room was used to think of strategies but the enemy must know of their location.

The problem was not everyone could assemble in the room because the soldiers were rampart.

"These rabbits are more trouble than they are worth!" Boyd complained as he glared at Gem who was in his Laguz Form.

"Puu?" He asked.

"And where the hell is Shinon?"

"He's not too far from here." Ike told him. "Anyway, Soren, do you have a plan?"

"Besides wiping out the soldiers before they get a chance to kill us? Yes, but it will be risky with the risk of civilians getting involved."

"But do we have any idea where they are from?" Titania questioned.

"After beating the Goddess, I doubt any of the rulers would attack a village like this." Soren stated. "And you saw that they have a different emblem."

"Yes..."

"So after we rout the enemy, we ask around about the army."

"If anyone is alive."

The poor old man was still alive from being impaled but he was probably being stomped on by the soldiers as they spoke.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Mia questioned as she took her gold sword. "Let's go kick some ass!"

The Greil Mercenaries couldn't help but agree. Something worried Gatrie though. At a time like this, why did Shinon have to disappear again?

* * *

 _Out of all the places these people have to attack, why does it have to be this sacred place?_ Shinon asked himself as he hid behind the rocks.

He felt something was out of place the minute he entered the cave. It was just his intuition but he was correct because soldiers from the same army that attacked them yesterday stormed into the place searching for the rabbits. Anyone praying to the angel statue was rounded up in a corner of the cave as the soldiers continued their search.

"Where are the rabbits?" The soldiers questioned as they pointed their lance at one of the villagers.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"If not the rabbits, then what about any of the Greil Mercenaries?"

"I will not say."

Shinon felt like hitting the woman for saying that. That minute, the statue was stained with blood. The three villagers that were rounded up were slaughtered by the five soldiers. The redhead took this chance to take his gold bow and began to flee.

"Hey! It's one of the Greil Mercenaries!" One of the soldiers shouted pointing to the marksmen. "And he's the one with the rabbits."

"Capture him! He must be brought back to the boss alive!"

Shinon shook his head in annoyance. Just what nonsense were they sprouting? He took aim with his gold bow and instantly killed two of the soldiers. He swiftly dodged the lances that were aimed at him.

"Is that all you got?" Shinon taunted.

Provoke had many good points and this was one of them. It was enough for them to attack more aggressively, but that allowed Shinon to read their moves. He quickly killed two more soldier leaving the leader of the bunch. As Shinon let out a yawn, he felt his shoulder be hit by the lance. The redhead was not pleased.

"Now you've done it..."

Shinon threw an arrow into the air. He jumped up to catch it and at a high speed, he got into position and shot the arrow from his bow. The soldier was not expecting it and he went down.

"That'll teach you not to mess with the old woman's grave." The marksmen said coldly as he faced the entrance. Battle cries were heard from outside. "It looks like the puppy is already fighting."

Before he left to join his comrades, he glanced the angel statue one last time before turning to leave, mumbling words that couldn't be made out.

* * *

The Greil Mercenaries basically attacked the soldiers that were in the hut they were staying before storming outside and assassinating any soldiers nearby. The enemy army should have suspected this but even if they did, they were still outmatched.

Sloth did not like the new situation they were in. At this rate, they might go out of the village to attack her unless she got her army to retreat.

 _But I must do my job._ She told herself as she stood at the entrance ordering reinforcements to come and aid her.

During the fiasco, Ike searched for Shinon. He knew that the redhead could take care of himself but it made him wonder where he could be because he was the only member that did not show up for the brief meeting. Gem and Gatrie would have helped but they had their hands full just dealing with the soldiers that seemed to be getting stronger.

Mist, Rhys, Titania and Shima stayed within Ike's range, healing any injured villager or trying to get them to shelter.

Boyd, Mia and Gem were on the front lines again just killing anyone that tried to get into the village. Rolf supported Boyd from the rear by shooting arrows. Oscar and Gatrie killed any soldier that got past the front lines. Soren healed them when they were injured but switched between attacking the soldiers with wind magic.

Tempest and Periwinkle flew onto the scene after half the enemy army was no longer in the village but just outside.

"We're here to help." Tempest said with a smile.

"That's fine." Ike told him. "Now you can just-"

"But we do things our own way so don't bother trying to order us around!" Periwinkle interrupted as she stole a bow from one of the dead bodies.

The bluenette glared at the two rabbits as Tempest shifted into his rabbit form and Ike was surprised that compared to Gem in rabbit form, Tempest he was ten times bigger. Tempest quickly flew to the entrance where everyone else was and kicking any soldier to death. Periwinkle assisted Tempest nearby shooting arrows from the bow but she wasn't strong enough to kill anything.

After a few more minutes, Shinon finally appeared on the battlefield. Ike (who happened to be in front of the cave that led down to the angel statue) faced the redhead.

"Where were you?"

"Down there..." Shinon replied sarcastically."It's kind of hard to get out and help everyone when the soldiers are down there murdering everyone."

"What happened to the villagers down there?"

"Let's just say, I'm the only one left standing..." Shinon mumbled as he had intentions of joining the rest of the Greil Mercenaries. Ike grabbed the older male's shoulder causing the other to groan in pain.

"How many soldiers were down there?" Ike questioned in worry.

"There were only five..." Shinon answered as he tried to get out of Ike's death grip. "I had to give the few villagers there a proper burial and-"

"You're staying here."

"What? Again?"

"Wait until Mist comes to heal you. Then you can join everyone else." Ike commanded.

Shinon scowled. This was the third battle he'd have to stay out of because of some minor injury or he had an important yet boring job to do.

"Well, she better hurry up."

Knowing that the marksmen would be okay, Ike joined everyone else on the frontlines. Shinon sighed as he waited for Mist to come over to him and heal his shoulder.

"Were you praying to the angel statue when they attacked?" Mist asked innocently.

Shinon shook his head. "No. Why would I do something as stupid as that?"

Mist frowned. "Oh...I was just wondering."

"Just because I was down there doesn't mean that I'd pray. Besides, people were slaughtered down there anyway."

The valkyrie patched the wound up with her Mend stave before jumping back on her small mare and continued to help anyone in need. Shinon saw this as a chance to join everyone else.

That was his intention but something changed within the boss. Sloth's ring began to turn pitch black. The bishop standing next to her noticed the difference in her aura and decided to stay back.

"I sense an **angel**..." Sloth mumbled in a low tone as she rushed forward with the rest of her soldiers.

The three rabbits instantly noticed a change in the army's commander.

"Periwinkle, Gem, back up! The little girl means business!" Tempest ordered.

The purple rabbit instantly obeyed as she ran back to the center of the village. Gem on the other hand wasn't going to retreat anytime soon. Annoyed, Tempest picked up the yellow rabbit by his ears and carried him to the center.

"Hey! I can still fight!"

"Nitwit! She has a rabbit slaying weapon! If she hits us, we're as good as dead!"

Gem gulped noticing that Sloth's weapon wasn't any silver lance he'd seen (he hasn't seen much anyway).

"All right...you win..."

Ike was rather confused why Tempest had his tribe turn tail and headed back to the village but it soon became apparent. He and the Greil Mercenaries would soon find out.

Sloth decided to target Mia first. The trueblade was expecting a challenge from the boss because the soldiers were too easy for her even if they had the type advantage. Mia did not expect to get impaled though. Mia had no idea how she survived the hit but she countered with Astra. The move was known for killing all of her opponents and she used it to either end the battle quickly or when it was needed. She needed to use this and with her powerful gold sword, she would be able to take the Sentinel down.

She struck at Sloth. The first hit caught her off guard. Mia tried to get her to knock her weapon down the second hit. The third hit didn't seem to do that much damage. The fourth hit, Mia slashed at her shoulder and then jumped on it ready to give her the final strike.

To her horror, Sloth blocked the last hit.

"Die..."

Fortunately for Mia she was swept away by Oscar who quickly parried the attack before he lifted her off the ground. He road off away from Sloth. 

"I'm not done yet!" Mia shouted but the wound to her stomach was rather serious. It looked like Sloth pierced her body.

"I think it's best if you stop fighting for today." Oscar told her as he rode his horse toward Rhys.

The Greil Mercenaries weren't expecting Sloth to be so tough for a little girl Ike ordered Rolf and Soren to back up so she wouldn't target them but she paid no heed to them. Shinon was within her range and she was going to attack him.

Now this was the disadvantage of provoke. If you don't want to be targeted by a dangerous little girl, then it'd be best to remove the skill but like Shinon could stop provoking people. Shinon almost got hit directly by the lance but he barely had enough time to dodge it. She only grazed his shoulder cutting the fabric of his clothing but that was enough for Shinon to feel excessive amount of pain.

 _What the hell?_ Shinon wondered as he jumped back from the crazy girl. He clutched his shoulder. Just a tiny scratch and he was already bleeding...

"Shinon, are you okay?" Gatrie questioned the marksmen.

"Yeah..." Shinon mumbled. "That lance is supposed to do triple the damage to rabbits right?"

"I don't know, why?"

"...It feel like I received that much damage..."

"This lance," Sloth began as she pointed it at Shinon, "can slay rabbits and angels in one hit."

Shinon paled when she mentioned the word angel. _Crap..._

To the other Greil Mercenaries, an angel could have been another name for the heron tribe because there was no way in hell that Shinon could be an angel and his personality proves it.

Sloth rushed at Shinon again. The redhead quickly dodged but she slashed at his ankle. Again, the massive pain came as he stumbled back.

"DIE!"

Gatrie wasn't going to let this little girl kill his best friend. He shoved her out of the way into Ike's direction where she was forced to fight the leader of the Greil Mercenaries. Boyd assisted Ike with his Tomahawk that did some damage and Rolf shot arrows from a distance. Soren went over to the redhead and healed him with a Mend stave. Gatrie stood in front of the two making sure that Sloth didn't attack either of them.

"A lot of people seem to hate you." Soren commented as he tried to heal the wound on his ankle.

"Gee thanks. It's a talent only I have."

"Skirmir has it too." Soren reminded him. He frowned when he realized that the wound wasn't healing. _This is odd. It's only a minor cut, yet it's not healing. What effects does that lance have? Could it be poison? No, if it was, then Mia would have fainted from it._

"Hey tactician! You fail at healing."

That resulted in the archsage hitting him on the head with the stave.

"Oww..."

"Be quiet. I'm trying my best here."

Ike was having no difficulty with the girl. For some reason, when she was attacking Shinon, she was using her entire strength, but now, it seemed that her strength was cut her in half now. Ike noticed the wristband around her wrist was pitch black now.

"Get out of the way!" She shouted. "If I don't kill you, I won't be able to go back!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Our mission is to kill the Greil Mercenaries for interfering with our plans! I won't let some lowly humans beat us every time."

"I have no idea what you're talking about and I hate to battle a little girl like you, but it looks like I have no choice."

Ike took one of her blows from her silver lance. He was expecting to feel intense pain like Shinon, but the attack did the same damage that the soldiers did. He wondered if either she wasn't being serious or the weapon was made to hurt the rabbit tribe and possibly Shinon?

 _I'll think about it later._ Ike told himself as he threw Ragnell in the air. "Aether!"

Sloth was owned by the bluenette. The first attack knocked her weapon out of her hand. The second fatal blow sliced off the wristband as well as leave a huge scar on her body. The little commander stayed on the ground as Ike did his victory pose.

"Shame on you Commander!" Gatrie shouted. "You didn't have to go to the extreme to attack a little girl!"

"It's kill or be killed Gatrie." Ike said as he turned away from the commander. The other soldiers froze seeing their commander on the ground.

To everyone's surprise, she got back up. Her eyes were empty though as she pointed toward the village.

"Burn the village." She ordered. "This place must be...destroyed..."

The Greil Mercenaries couldn't believe how cruel the little girl was. Shinon noticed that her body was turning into darkness. He also noticed that she was...crying?

"But Commander..."

"I can't go back..." She mumbled. "He tricked me and now I'm dead...do what your commander told you and destroy the village..." She closed her eyes as her body disappeared into the darkness.

_Dad...I'm sorry I failed you. Please forgive this foolish girl._

The soldiers wasted no time to fulfill their commander's last wish. Tempest quickly flew over to Ike.

"We have to get out of here." He whispered in his ear.

"What? We aren't leaving these people to die."

"I'm sorry but this girl has too many reinforcements. If we don't leave now, we'll be burned alive."

Ike scowled at the black rabbit and turned to his comrades and then back at Tempest. "Alright, but we got to gather everyone."

"No need. Gem and Shima already carried your sister and that saint out of the village."

Titania came to the scene with a worried expression. "There are enemies approaching from all sides of the village."

"I think it's best to listen to his advice and leave." Soren added.

Oscar appeared in front of the commander with Mia on his back. "We secured a route out of the village."

"All right, let's go. Everyone-hey! Where's Shinon?"

Gatrie cursed to himself. "I'll go find him."

"You might want to hurry." Tempest warned. "This village will be burned to the ground in...five minutes."

The marshall wasted on time in searching for his friend. _God dammit Shinon. You can't just run off with those injuries!_

* * *

Shinon couldn't accept the fact that the village of the angels was going to be burned down. He couldn't leave without saying good-bye to one person since he wasn't going to live. Titania carried that person into the hut where they usually had their meetings. He searched the room to find him.

"Old man, where are you?"

"W-Whose there?"

"It's me..."

The old man was injured so he used most of his strength trying to turn in the bed. He opened his eyes and he gasped. "Shinon, it really is you?"

"Yeah...sorry it took so long."

"No, it's okay. I'm just relived that the angel heritage isn't lost."

Shinon hid his eyes behind his hair. "Is that it?"

"No. I'm also glad that my grandson is still alive. What about your older brother or sweet Meno?"

Shinon shook his head. "That good for nothing brother left the day before my family was murdered by a Sub-Human...even my little sister wasn't spared...and yet...I was..."

"I see. The poor girl..."

Shinon frowned. Why did the death of that young commander bring back bad memories of his dead sibling?

"Old man, you need to get out of here. This village won't be here anymore..."

"I would love to go with you but I can't."

"Why not? Do you not care about dying here...alone?"

"There is no need to worry. Your grandmother's soul is still alive until I breathe my last..."

"Tenchi?"

"Yes, she might have been sacrificed to keep this village alive for many years but her powers are weakening. War has taken it's toll on places like this. When the world froze, her powers protected us, but that's it for us...once the village is burned, she will descend to heaven at long last..."

"Old man..."

The village elder smiled as he pointed to the door. "Go now. I don't want you to end your life here."

"But Keppaku..."

The old man smiled. "I'm glad you finally have a family after that incident. The Greil Mercenaries are very reliable..."

"I..."

"SHINON!"

The redhead didn't need to know that Gatrie found him.

"What the hell are you doing? We got to leave now!" Gatrie yelled as he seized Shinon's arm.

"Stop it Gatrie, I can't leave grandpa alone!"

Gatrie was stunned. "Your grandfather?"

The old man nodded his head. "Take good care of my grandson."

The soldiers were coming in. If they didn't leave now, they would be surrounded.

"Sorry Shinon, but we got to go!"

Shinon gasped as he felt himself being lifted up by the marshall. He struggled to get his friend to release him but no prevail.

"Dammit Gatrie! Don't do this to me!"

Gatrie said nothing as he barged through the soldiers that had torches in their hand. They paid no head to the blonde and threw the torches at the hut.

"So...in my time of dying...I finally saw my grandson again. What a relief..." Keppaku muttered as he closed his eyes ready to meet his end. "Tenchi, I'll be joining you soon."

And with that said, the flames slowly engulfed his body as he felt it turning to ash.

* * *

The two made it out of the village just in time. The village was burning. Dancing flames were incinerating the houses. The voice of the Beorc were roaring but they were not heard over the chaos of the flames. The Greil Mercenaries could only watch in despair as the village that they often helped was being burned in front of them.

 _Stupid old man._ Shinon thought to himself as he felt himself backing away so he wouldn't see the village being destroyed. _If you just listened, you would have lived. Now...I'm all alone._

* * *

During the entire battle, a tall masculine figure who wore an entire cloak over him stood in the distance watching it all with a tool used to see from far distances without getting in closed called binoculars. He witnessed Sloth fall in battle by the leader of the Greil Mercenaries. He huffed as he disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

The members of Society of Requiem were gathered again not because they heard about the fire Sloth started but because of their leader. He originally called Nemi but he needed to bring everyone along because it seemed that after he spoke with the child prodigy, he would send one or two of them on an important mission that had nothing to do with their plans.

Before he could start though, the enormous guy opened the doors. You would think he'd say something but nothing came from his mouth.

"Frank, is there something wrong?" Leo questioned the giant.

Frank nodded his head. Leo went over to him and got the info. He gasped.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TRISHA IS DEAD?"

There were some gasps in the group but only one person (or was it two) laughed.

"So the whore failed to do something so simple." Gluttony mocked as she licked her lollipop. "That's what she gets for not letting me get the mission."

Gluttony was not expecting to nearly get punched in the face by Greed. Lucky for her, Shigeru pulled her out of the way.

"You little bitch!" Greed yelled as he glared at her. "Don't you dare say that about her! She tried her best." He turned to Frank. "Who killed her?"

"The Greil Mercenaries." He replied in a very low tone. "Their leader Ike."

Greed took his dagger out. "That man is as good as dead. Tenou, please send me to assassinate the Greil Mercenaries!"

"Aww, your father instincts are kicking in." Gluttony giggled. "Or are you becoming obsessed with little girls like the rabbit king?"

"You better shut the fuck up before I-"

"Kill me? Go ahead. Someone will stop you." Gluttony told him as she took a bite from her lollipop.

"She has a point." Shigeru told the assassin. "She may be a little naughty but we will not kill our own members."

"Look whose talking!" Greed growled as he pointed to Nakahito. "That man killed Sloth! He knew she was going to die!"

Nemi turned to his father and frowned. "Father..."

"I gave her an item to increase her power. If she used it correctly, she might have come out alive." Nakahito replied with a fake smile. "We all know she disliked fighting though and could not use the wristband to her full potential."

"I think," Yoko began, "the wristband killed her. Not this Beorc called Ike."

Frank nodded his head in agreement. Nakahito frowned. "Was it imperfect? I make sure all of my utensils are safe to use."

"BULLSHIT!"

Greed looked ready to lose it until Atsuki decided to step in.

"Stand down to your superiors Greed." He ordered. Greed continued to glare at the trueblade before stepping back with the rest of the members. Atsuki then turned to Nakahito. "Nakahito, when you make something, make sure to give it a test run before giving it to someone. We cannot afford to lose anymore members."

Nakahito waved his hand down. "Okay-dokie."

Nemi, Frank, Leo and Glacia were not convinced by his tone of voice. It was totally fake. He might hurt the next person who tests out his equipment.

"ENOUGH!" Their boss finally shouted. "LET ME SPEAK!"

Everyone including the serious members all of them started to sweat. Their leader was usually calm and serious but whatever Nemi gave him must have set him off.

"Nemi, what did you use to take this piece of paper?" he questioned as he waved the paper in the air.

"Umm...a camera?" Nemi answered with uncertainty. "You said to infiltrate Daein and take pictures of the Dawn Brigade...I couldn't find half of them so I just took a picture of the only member I could find. He was walking in the street like an ordinary person."

Tenou gave a disturbing smile that sent shivers down the four teenage members' spine.

"I want him."

"He said it..." Atsuki mumbled not at all pleased.

"Bring him to me!"

"Woah, woah woah! Time out!" Shibuya shouted. He knew he shouldn't be speaking to his superior in informal terms but he was very confused. "You said we had to attack every nation in some way that could probably cause a civil war. How does kidnapping someone have anything to do with that?"

"You have much to learn Shibuya." Tenou told him with a laugh as he flopped the picture in the air. "You wouldn't understand the suffering I went through!"

"No we wouldn't understand." Leo interrupted. "I mean, for you to not have sex for...how long?"

If Leo didn't have this luck that prevented him from getting killed, then he would have died that moment. Tenou threw a knife at his head. Blood squirted out as the comedian fell on the floor.

"The truth hurts..." Leo said with a laugh as Shigeru ran over to his friend and pulled the knife out.

"You're going to get killed with these snide remarks one day." Shigeru warned him with a sigh.

"He's going to have a gun to the head the next time you say something like that." Glacia added coldly.

Tenou waited for them to quiet down before he continued. "I understand what you mean though Shibuya. We need a way to get Daein under our control. If Bengion can blackmail them, then so can we. This boy in this picture is closest thing to the queen."

"Yes, they are to be married soon." Nemi continued.

"Correct, and we'll use that to our advantage. Whoever completes this mission will be rewarded with whatever they want. So, whose willing to lead the attack on Daein and capture my pray?"

There was silence in the group. Some members were whispering about how they wanted to do it but the Dawn Brigade was a weaker version of the Greil Mercenaries but still just as powerful.

"Atsuki, would you do it?" Tenou questioned.

"Negative." the right hand man answered.

Tenou did not like that answer. "What?"

"We got to think of the consequences of your plan." Atsuki began. "The Dawn Brigade, while not as strong as the Greil Mercenaries are still a force not to be reckon with. Similar to the Crimean Knights and the Apostle's Guards. While I can single handedly defeat an entire army, I would still suffer from injuries if they work together. What's more is that if they have Laguz units, then I would be at a severe disadvantage. I may be your best swordsmen but my blade might not be enough if they have a Laguz King or Queen on their side."

"And you are speaking of?"

"The wolf tribe. They have helped Queen Micaiah since the beginning of Bengion's downfall over their reign on Daein. It would be unwise of me to unleash my sword against the Queen of the Wolf Tribe."

"You're overestimating them Atsuki!" Said a voice.

Atsuki stared at the figure in the shadows. It was a tiger Laguz with red hair, ears and tail. He had a confident smirk that didn't please the trueblade.

"Some tribes are insubstantial compared to others." The tiger Laguz explained. "The heron clan is one of those weak tribes. The beast tribe are a bunch of maggots. The dragon tribe are cowards for isolating themselves and don't get me started with the hawks and ravens."

"That attitude will get you killed, Kizuna." Atsuki responded harshly as he turned his attention back to his leader. "If I remember correctly, she has defeated many powerful units in the past, so it'd be unwise to fight her."

"I'll do the mission."

Everyone turned to see who accepted the mission after Atsuki declined it. It was none other than the older brother of Yoko, Mamoru. He looked similar to Yoko in appearance except he did not tie his chocolate colored hair. Like Kizuna, his confidence was very high or should I say arrogance.

"Brother, I don't think you should..." Yoko muttered.

"I already have everything planned." Mamoru said with a smile. "Will you like to hear my plan oh great one?"

Tenou eyed the teen suspiciously. "Go on."

"There has been peace since the Goddess was defeated, correct? Recently, the only problems have been in Crimea. Daein is at peace with Bengion now that the blood pact has been destroyed. Chances are that the members of the Dawn Brigade are spread out. So if we ambush them now..."

"They won't have enough time to counterattack and they'll be huge catastrophes..." Yoko finished.

"Exactly little brother. So you see, I will have my army of darkness rattle up some people in Daein. Soldiers that are nearby will probably attack them instead of reporting to the Queen. Yoko and I will travel through darkness and wait for a chance to appear in the throne room in front of the Queen. Chances are, she won't expect an army to be in front of her door. Even if she can see the future, she won't be able to have any chances to prepare. We will capture your target and offer her a chance to save him. His freedom for the surrender of Daein. The stupid girl will be in a dilemma."

"Her spouse over her country? How do you decide on something like that?" Shibuya questioned not liking this method of negotiation at all.

"That's a cruel method..." Wolf murmured.

"It will give us good results regardless. Either Tenou will have his sex toy or Daein under his control. She can't choose both so Daein is screwed."

Nemi was impressed. The teens were smarter than they appeared. Still, he wasn't pleased with this tactic at all.

"But did you think about what would happen if the Queen fought with her comrades?" Glacia questioned.

Mamoru laughed. "Impossible. The throne room will be locked so there will be no way for anyone to get in or out."

"Then how will you-"

"Darkness. That is my power."

Yoko shook his head. "Do I have to go with you?"

"Yes. You will say what our leader told us just now."

"Eh...I'm not good at memorizing stuff brother..."

"You'll live as long as you don't humiliate me in front of her highness." Mamoru replied as he turned to their almighty leader. "So, do I have the okay?"

Tenou was fascinated by the idea. It made his right hand man seem like a coward. "Perfect. Then it's settled. You and your brother will be assigned to capture my prey."

"Thank you your majesty."

"But I must warn you, if you fail, death awaits both of you."

Yoko shivered. "I didn't agree to this yet I'm going to die? What a drag..."

"We won't fail." Mamoru said as he patted his brother's head. "We'll definitely succeed. I have a trick up my sleeve and that's why I need us to use our brotherly love against them."

Yoko groaned. "Here we go with the brotherly love again..."

Shibuya turned to Wolf in anguish. The blond was concerned that they'd fail their mission and would be executed. Shibuya wondered if kidnapping was the best method of getting what they wanted.

 _I don't get it. There's no reason to fight, yet we're making the same mistake as these other Beroc in the other wars..._ Shibuya thought to himself as Tenou dismissed them. _I need to do some investigating...especially about Trisha's death._

The black haired teen didn't seem to notice the worried look Wolf was giving him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 9129 words. Now the battle method.
> 
> Chapter 1: The First Strike
> 
> Victory: Rout enemy
> 
> Defeat: Any ally dies
> 
> Player Units: 13 (Ike, Titania, Oscar, Soren, Mia, Mist, Rhys, Shinon, Rolf, Gatrie, Boyd, Gem and Shima) (Shinon appears on turn 3)
> 
> Partner Units: 2 (Tempest and Periwinkle) (Appear on turn 2)
> 
> Enemy Units: 30 (25 on Easy)
> 
> Enemy Reinforcements: 3 paladins and 1 swordsmaster appear at the boss's location every three turns
> 
> Items: Silver Lance (dropped by boss)
> 
> The enemy units start at the bottom of the screen and the Greil Mercenaries in the middle. Your job is to route the enemy before they can cause any damage to the village. Sounds easy, right? Well, the problem is that your partner units do not obey commands from Ike, so there is a chance that Periwinkle might get killed. Make sure to have your best units protect her. Tempest on the other hand will be fine as a Laguz Royal.
> 
> The boss has a weird pattern. For six turns, she will have cut stats and will not move from her location. However, on turn seven, her strategy drastically changes and she will target either Shinon or the rabbit Laguz. Her weapon may be a silver lance but she is also equipped with a wristband that triples the damage done against the rabbit Laguz and Shinon (why Shinon, you'll find out later). If she gets to Gem, Shima or Periwinkle, she will kill them in that one turn. Shinon and Tempest can survive the turn she attacks (unless they get hit by a critical).
> 
> Have Ike and your healers stay in the center of the village and move everyone else to the front. Shinon appears on turn three so he'll be in the middle by the time everyone is at the bottom of the map. Make sure you keep him away from the boss.
> 
> DO NOT KILL SLOTH BEFORE TURN SEVEN! The wristband she wears will activate if she is killed sooner and she will attack the person who killed her or will attack a rabbit if he or she is within range.
> 
> Weaken the boss with your powerful units and then when turn seven hits, finish her off. Not a hard chapter as long as you keep the rabbit's out of her range.
> 
> An updated list of the villains...
> 
> 1\. Tenou (Think of Ashera from RG Veda and Tsubasa Chronicles)
> 
> 2\. Atsuki a Trueblade (Think of Nakago from Fushigi Yugi)
> 
> 3\. Nakahito (Think of Nagi Springfield from Negima)
> 
> 4\. Kizuna a Tiger Laguz (think of Kaga from Hikaru No Go)
> 
> 5\. Nemi (Think of Negi from Negima)
> 
> 6\. Frank (Think of Frankenstein)
> 
> 7\. Leo (Think of Recca from Flame of Recca)
> 
> 8\. Glacia (Think of Tokiya from Flame of Recca)
> 
> 9\. Aussa (Think of Asuna from Negima)
> 
> 10\. Gustav (Think of Oliver only with pale skin)
> 
> 11\. Shigeru (Think of Kiyomaro from Konjiki No Gash Bell)
> 
> 12\. Mamoru a Dark Sorcerer (Think of Hao from Shaman King)
> 
> 13\. Yoko (Think of Yoh from Shaman King)
> 
> 14\. Wolf (Think of Wolfram from Kyo Kara Maou AKA God Save Our King)
> 
> 15\. Shibuya (Think of Yuri from Kyo Kara Maou AKA God Save Our King)
> 
> 16\. Unnamed member
> 
> 17\. Unnamed member
> 
> 18\. Greed an Assassin (Think of Tomo from Fushigi Yugi)
> 
> 19\. Unnamed member
> 
> 20\. Unnamed female member
> 
> 21\. Unnamed female member
> 
> 22\. Gluttony (Think of Road from D Gray Man)
> 
> 23\. Envy (Unknown appearance)
> 
> 24\. Sloth a Sentinel (Think of Hotaru from Sailor Moon) DEAD
> 
> List will be updated every chapter when a name, class and someone is killed.
> 
> If you want to know, the sorcerer class is one that can use a sword as well as one magic spell. In this case, Mamoru can use a sword and dark magic. In fact, all the teen members are sorcerers as well as Leo, Glacia and a member not introduced. Out of all of them, Shibuya is surprisingly the strongest and the reason why won't be relieved until much later. I love how the sorcerer class is just the tactician class in Awakening. Also notes...
> 
> 1\. Tenchi means Angel.
> 
> 2\. Keppaku means Purity.


	7. Black Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mamoru and Yoko start their ambush on Daein. The Dawn Brigade is split up at the moment so Micaiah doesn't have enough time to warn them about the attack. At first, it seems that it's a simple assassination of the queen mission but Mamoru has given her an offer she can't refuse. What will she do? And who's the gray rabbit that Edward rescued?

_God dammit. I let my guard down. A simple mission to look for that selfish girl just had to turn into a disaster! I tried to go into the mansion and I end up getting swarmed by soldiers that want to capture me! I have to get away!_

_They throw javelins, short spears, shock waves from swords and even magic at me. I dodge it all easily but they plan to capture me this time since they brought in the wyvern riders to catch me. I wonder if anyone has noticed those dragons in the sky but I seriously doubt that._

_Here I am fleeing and I finally get hit by an arrow in the knee. God dammit, if I switch to my rabbit form now, they'll catch me for certain! I have to outmaneuver them. I can't let Dream Team die because of me just yet..._

" _Where did he go?"_

" _Split up and find him!"_

_With luck, I finally managed to get away...but I'm too tired to continue running. I feel dizzy...I just want to sleep and regain my energy...but I know they'll catch me if I close my eyes...this sucks..._

* * *

In the rich streets of Bengion, a swordsmen with brown hair and gray eyes browsed through the shopping section. Bengion was being rather generous after the huge mess up in Tellius and decided to have open stands where some items that were originally expensive were at an affordable price for the average person.

"Edward, you need to hurry up." 

Edward turned his head toward the voice and then back at the stand. He came to Bengion with Jill Fizzart to deliver goods to the Senates (that the Apostle Sanaki was re-electing and recruiting). They decided to stop in the area after hearing about the cheap sales. Jill had no idea why Edward wanted to go to the street stands. At first, she thought he was going to buy a new sword that he wouldn't need because all wars were over now that there were only peaceful rulers. That didn't seem to be the case though. The brunette was skimming through the stands and stopped at a rather expensive stand.

"Wait a minute Jill! I think I have enough!" He told her.

"Enough for what?"

Jill decided to walk closer to see what Edward was going to buy with the gold that was to be given to Micaiah. She was rather surprised when she saw what the swordsmen was getting.

"You picked a good gift lad." Said the salesperson. "Whose the lucky girl you're proposing to?"

Edward knew his cheeks were red but couldn't help himself when he heard the word proposal. "N-No one in particular."

"Is it for that lass behind you?"

Jill sighed as Edward denied the thought at that very moment.

"No need to get riled up lad. Just for being bold at a young age, I'll sell it to you for half the price."

"Really?"

The salesperson nodded his head. "It's only be 7200 gold pieces."

Luckily, they earned 10,000 gold from the delivery. Micaiah and Leonardo would be yelling at him later, but he had to get this item now or their would not be another opportunity for a while.

"Sweet! I'll take it!"

Edward bought the item and he and Jill were off in a flash. Jill's dragon was waiting for her a little outside of the area. The minute she hopped on though, Edward stopped in his tracks.

"What is it now?" the redhead asked him annoyed that he kept getting distracted.

Edward pointed toward the direction of the bushes. "Look."

There was a gray ear sticking out. What animal was it from was unknown until Edward got closer, sword in hand. He was surprised to find an injured gray bunny hiding in the bushes waiting for something.

"What did you find Edward?" Jill asked as she hopped off of her wyvern and walked over to the brunette. Once she saw the rabbit, one thing came into mind. "It's so cute!"

The brunette had to admit it was cute but there were more important things to attend to. Its leg was pierced by an arrow and its ears were bruised from long range weapons from glazing him.

"Jill, do you have a vulnerary?" He asked.

"I think so, just wait."

Jill went back to her dragon as she took something from the bag that was wrapped around it and then hurried back with the medicine. Edward quickly rubbed the entire thing on the rabbit which was a bit too much. The rabbit's skin was all shiny afterwards, but the wounds soon quickly disappeared. The two were shocked that the thing had no eyes (or rather they were similar to Oscar's) and it just moved its body once it was fully healed.

"Hey little buddy, what happened?" Edward asked.

The bunny looked at Edward. It seemed rather surprised before it bit him in the arm.

"Owww!" Edward screamed as he tried to fling the rabbit off. The brunette realized that the bite didn't hurt as much as he expected it to. "It doesn't...hurt?"

"The bunny doesn't even have any teeth." Jill commented as it pointed to the inside of the rabbit. Sure enough, there were no pearly whites. Edward sighed as he pulled the ear of it just trying to get it to let go.

"Puu!" It responded as it began to kick him in the face.

"What the hell is his problem?" Edward questioned as he tried his best not to get kicked.

"How do you know it's a he?" Jill asked.

"I don't know. It just seems like that."

Eventually Edward got tired of the rabbit and proceeded to throw him into a nearby tree. The minute he did, it bounced off the trees like a pinball and hit him in the face knocking him into the dirt. The rabbit sat on top of him and started to dance.

"Why the hell did I save you?" Edward asked himself as Jill helped him up.

The wyvern lord glanced at her dragon as she noticed that it was looking in the direction they found the rabbit. She scowled. "We'll find out soon enough."

Four guys were approaching them. Each wearing a black cloak over their head. The guy in the middle that seemed to be the leader was more noticeable because he was rather large. Edward could smell trouble and before he knew it, he found himself shoving the gray rabbit up Jill's shirt.

"What the f-"

"Go get on your wyvern. I'll handle this."

"Who do you think you-"

Jill saw the serious expression on the brunette's face and gave up the fight as she headed toward her dragon slowly.

The four men stopped in front of Edward. The fat guy in the middle stepped forward. "Good day. I have a question to ask you. Have you seen a gray rabbit around here? He ran away from home and I'm trying to find my pet."

Edward was not stupid. Those words sounded so fake that the brunette felt his hands touch the hilt of Caladbolg ready to pull it out at anytime.

"I was wondering if she ran this direction."

 _Now I know he's lying._ Edward told himself. The rabbit was definitely a male. There was no way that a female rabbit would enjoy snuggling between a woman's breasts like.

"Nope, I didn't see anything that fit that description." Edward said simply still glaring at the man.

The fat man wasn't going to believe a kid. He looked ahead to Jill who had just got on her dragon telling Edward to hurry up and get on.

"Are you allowing a pregnant women to ride a dragon?" The fat man questioned the brunette. "Some husband you are."

Again Edward felt his cheeks turn red. They were from anger this time being accused of being Jill's husband twice already when he didn't swing that way.

"She is _**NOT**_ my wife!" Edward shouted causing Jill to facepalm.

"Whatever you say, but I say it's suspicious that you are letting her do the work."

"You obvious don't know who that is," Edward told the fat man, "that's Jill Fizzart, one of the best warriors of Daein _but I'm better_. She can handle something like pregnancy with ease, so why don't you head to Bengion and ask around about your precious rabbit?"

Jill was surprised that Edward manage to pull it off without resorting to violence...or so she thought. The three other guys that was with the fat man surrounded her dragon to her annoyance.

"Hey babe, are you sure the kid is telling the truth?" They asked. "He doesn't seem reliable."

Jill glared at the men. If eyes were like ice, they would have suffered frostbite. "He may be fifteen but I trust him because he was in a war that you three idiots probably haven't been in, so I suggest you don't underestimate him."

"Why you-"

"Halt!" The fat man shouted as he glared at the brunette. "I can only pray that you aren't lying because if you are, misfortune will befall you, your friends and your nation."

"What?"

Edward didn't get to ask what the hell he meant by that because he was heading straight toward the capital of Bengion with his henchmen following close behind. Once they were out of plain sight, Edward took his sword out and began to curse out loud.

"Those bastards! Who do they think they are just assuming we're a married couple and calling me a terrible husband!"

"...That's what you're mad about?"

"Yes! You know I bought this ring for Leonardo!..."

Jill would have giggled if she didn't feel strange. She looked down and noticed that the gray rabbit was no longer there and was replaced by a boy that looked to be Edward's age. He had spiky gray hair and gray bunny ears. She screamed as she kicked the rabbit boy out of her shirt.

"Ouch...that hurt..." Mumbled the rabbit boy.

"A Laguz?" Edward questioned as he went over to the rabbit boy. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Your friend is violent..." He resorted.

"You just noticed?"

"Yeah..."

The conversation didn't go any farther than that because the spiky haired teen collapsed in a heap.

"H-Hey!"

"...I'm hungry and I want to sleep..." The rabbit boy mumbled.

Edward turned to Jill. They both knew that the fat man was up to no good and leaving the rabbit boy here might get him into a situation that would be impossible to get out of. Edward slowly lifted the teen on his back. It turned out that he was much lighter than he appeared to be. Slowly, he made his way on top of Jill's dragon. The wyvern lord then commanded her dragon to fly toward Daein.

"Hey, we haven't gotten your name yet. Can you tell that before you go to sleep?"

"...It's Comet," the gray rabbit replied, "and Daein is in terrible danger..."

"What?"

The rabbit called Comet fell asleep. Edward said nothing as he spoke to Jill. "Daein in trouble? That can't be? We just destroyed the Blood Pact..."

"I don't think he meant that," Jill mumbled. "I got a bad feeling. Hey Draco, can you fly faster?"

The dragon obeyed as it picked up the pace to the capital of Daein.

* * *

Sothe sighed as he headed toward the throne room. He did not feel like seeing Micaiah right now with how his mind was clouded with doubt and uncertainty.

After the Goddess was defeated and peace returned to the land, he, Micaiah and the Dawn Brigade went back to Daein to restore the nation to its former glory. It was shortly afterwards that Sothe thought it would be a great idea to confess his love for the new queen of Daein and by doing that he proposed to her at the same time.

The Branded's reaction was unforeseen by her. After Yune left her side, Micaiah could no longer predict the future so being proposed by the boy she took care of in his young years was surprising. While she accepted his proposal she made one condition clear. They would not marry until he was of the age of an adult.

"It'd be weird to be married to a fifteen year old." She joked as she flashed a beautiful smile. Sothe smiled at the remembrance of the image.

He just had to wait three more years before they could officially marry and he'd be a king that would stand by Micaiah's side always until death.

While nothing has stained their relationship, Sothe started to ask himself if he was rushing this relationship. There were times when he wondered if Micaiah accepted the proposal because it was him or if she really loved him because the she had different smiles that she showed to different people. The smile that she gave him, made him feel warm, fuzzy and most of all, safe. The smile she gave to the people of Daein gave them courage and motivation, but her smile that she beamed toward Pelleas was one he could not understand. He had never seen her smile so brightly before. It made his heart hurt thinking that Micaiah had eyes on another man and that man of all people had to be Pelleas.

Sothe never really liked Pelleas to begin with mainly because he was weak and would often go to his Micaiah for help and comfort. While he did become more confident as time went on, it didn't change the fact that Pelleas had eyes for the silver haired maiden that gave him courage. Sothe was glad that he beat the former ruler to the punch but that wouldn't change a thing if Micaiah didn't like him back, and he didn't want to think of a life without her. Because...if Micaiah didn't need him...he wouldn't know what to do...

The door to the throne room was in front of him. The whisper slowly entered into the room. In the room, Micaiah was sitting on the throne. Volug and Tauroneo were by her side.

"You call Micaiah?" he asked her avoiding to make eye contact with her.

The light priestess knew that Sothe was feeling uneasy whenever she was around the dark sage but she couldn't help herself. She wanted to tell Sothe that it was a misunderstanding but that would have to wait until they were alone.

"Sothe, do you sense that something is wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

The Silver Haired Maiden shook her head in annoyance. "I don't know. I may no longer have the power to see the future without Yune, but I feel like something bad is going to happen..."

Volug howled in response to her worry. Sothe took it that the wolf could feel something bad in the air as well.

"Do you have any idea on who might attack us?" Sothe questioned. "I mean, we're at peace with Crimea and the Laguz nations and you just signed a contract with your sister in Bengion, so I don't see who could attack us beside rebels who want to start a fight."

"That's what I thought too." The queen began. "I'm sure the other members of the Dawn Brigade would have stopped any rebels before they actually got a chance to attack..."

Micaiah continued to ponder on her intuition. Sothe couldn't help but worry about his queen.

* * *

"Brother, are you sure this is going to work?" Yoko questioned for the thirteenth time.

"Yes Yoko if you work with me!" His older brother spat as he hit Yoko with the hilt of his sword.

"But...it seems unlikely. I mean, she could be expecting us...and I don't like using violence. Why does it have to be Daein first that we conquer?"

Mamoru shook his head. "It's not Daein that's first. As we work on baiting the Silver Haired Maiden, Kizuna is already working on Gallia. You didn't realize that there are fights in that nation?"

"No?"

"Kizuna started his mission before we were assigned ours. He wanted revenge on the nation that betrayed him especially now that they have a new king."

"But...why do we get Daein?"

"Because they are still rebuilding." Mamoru answered. "Crimea is still recovering from the civil war and the Bengion attack. After Gallia is conquered, we will move onto Crimea. The bird nation is out of our reach at the moment because the bird tribe has teamed up and they have many spies. Then Goldoa is too far to teleport to, so we'll just waiting for Nakahito to create something from that laboratory that allow us easy access to the dragons. He'll also be the one in charge of taking control of Bengion. That leaves Daein. It is weak from getting away from Bengion's grasp as well as sending too many soldiers to fight the Laguz Alliance. They need serious rebuilding and are praying that they won't get attacked again. That's why we get this nation first."

Yoko seemed to absorb all of this information.

"Besides, you heard the boss. He wants this guy in the photo."

Yoko took a look at the photo. The boy with green hair made his heart race. It was...weird...given the only time his heart beat this fast was around his brother.

One of Mamoru's soldier appeared behind him whispering something in his ear.

"Understood." Mamoru turned to his younger brother. "We are moving out Yoko. Our soldiers already put up a barrier around the castle. If we don't go now, the queen will be able to retaliate."

The younger brother nodded his head slowly. Mamoru disappeared into a dark void while Yoko seem to have disappeared in the wind.

* * *

Micaiah instantly noticed that something was wrong with the castle the minute she came to her conclusion. _It's too late._ She thought to herself as she got off her throne.

"Micaiah?"

Sothe noticed that Volug was growling and Tauroneo had his spear ready to defend the queen. The green haired teen quickly ran over to Micaiah's side to see what they were staring at.

As if on cue, a dark void opened up at the front of the door and a boy no older than seventeen years old emerged from the shadows. He grinned evilly as he made his entrance. Behind the dark void was a small gust of wind followed by the appearance of an identical twin of the older male only he was two years younger.

"Who are you?" Was the first thing that Micaiah asked as she had her spell book tucked between her arms ready to use it at anytime.

"My name is Mamoru," Mamoru introduced in a boastful manner, "and this guy here is my dearest younger brother Yoko. We have come here to make a deal with the queen of Daein."

"A deal?"

As soon as he said that, soldiers wearing all black were raining from the ceiling. All landed safely. Sothe got in front of Micaiah ready to attack if necessary.

"Does a bargain require you to bring an entire army?" Sothe asked sarcastically.

 _He's the one._ Yoko thought to himself as he gazed into the serious eyes of the whisper. His heart was pounding more than looking at pictures of him.

"Yes in case your queen is unwilling to cooperate." Mamoru said with a laugh as he asked Yoko to give him the scroll with their instructions. Yoko handed it to him as Mamoru began to read. "Our boss has told us to negotiate with the Queen of Daein for the use of her country for the better future or whatever crap he speaks off. If she does not cooperate, we are allowed to use force...now that I look at these instructions...this doesn't make that much sense..."

"What do you mean by use the country?" The light priestess inquired.

"It's translated to surrender the country before things get violent." Yoko said with a yawn. "Our boss said that but didn't bother writing it in the scroll."

"Now why would we do that?" Sothe questioned.

"You're outnumbered." Mamoru answered. "I think the queen already noticed the unsettling feeling. Well, that was my soldiers working up a barrier. Now no one can come into this room until we get what we want."

"I feared this would happen..." Micaiah mumbled. "But I will not surrender Daein to you after we worked so hard to reclaim it."

"It's for the greater cause." Mamoru said with a laugh as he got out a black spell book. "Of course, your highness is too blind to realize that."

The Silver Haired Maiden realized that he was planning to attack her head on. Micaiah urged Sothe to step back which he was forced to obey.

" _ **O light, gather. Open my path...**_ " Micaiah chanted as she casted Thani on her opponent. It came out differently then what it usually was. Instead of a light that came from the sky, it appeared in front of her like a laser beam and was fired at Mamoru.

Mamoru did the same as he cast a Verrine spell on the light priestess. It too came out in front of him in the form of a laser beam. Light and dark clashed in the throne room. The attack was giving off a radiant light that everyone not fighting had to turn away or shield their eyes.

"Hmm...you are powerful after all." Mamoru taunted as he increased the power of his attack. "I bet this is your first time using a spell like this, and it'll probably be your last."

The Queen of Daein wasn't going to lose hope. She was going to protect her country from these strangers hands down. She would not lose in a battle of magic.

Yoko thought that Mamoru was going to lose but he soon realized that the dark sorcerer was going easy on her and was chanting a curse to capture their pray.

"Brother..."

"I might have underestimated you..." Mamoru began. "But you won't win."

With that said, Mamoru chanted something in the ancient tongue that allowed the spell to increase in power.

 _I can't hold it anymore!_ She realized as the dark magic overcame her light magic. She was hit dead on with the spell and was sent back. Luckily Sothe caught her before she hit the throne.

"Too easy." Mamoru taunted. "I guess there is no magician that can stand up to my magic."

Sothe handed his queen to Tauroneo who held her in his arms trying to get her to snap out of her daze. Volug continued to howl at their enemy as Sothe turned their direction giving them a look that could kill.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but I won't forgive you for hurting Micaiah!"

Mamoru smirked. "I don't see why you get all worked up over her when she doesn't know who our real target is?"

Sothe was confused. "What?"

"You see. Our boss doesn't give a crap whether or not he'll get Daein or not in the end. He's after a certain person instead."

"And who is that?" Sothe asked starting to feel a little uneasy.

Mamoru smiled evilly as he chanted a curse in the old tongue. Sothe felt an invisible rope wrap around his stomach. Before he realized what happened, the tip of the black rope appeared on Mamoru's end. The dark sorcerer pulled on the rope with such force that the whisper was yanked on to their side.

"SOTHE!" Micaiah cried out as she tried to stand up only to fall back down. The damage to her leg was rather serious.

"I caught a big one this time!" Mamoru joked as he let go of the rope. Sothe was thrown into the masculine arms of one of the soldiers who were laughing at his state of helplessness. Sothe tried to escape his bonds but they would not budge.

"Mamoru's bonds are based on magic resistance." Yoko stated. "The lower your resistance the more tighter it will wrap around you."

"Damn you..." Sothe cursed under his breathe as he continued to struggle. He couldn't let himself be seen in a state like this in front of Micaiah again. The first time was when he let his guard down and Tibarn captured him in order to blackmail the Branded into lowering Daein's weapons...and it worked.

"Queen Micaiah, I think you know the situation you are in now." Mamoru said with a laugh.

Tauroneo helped the Maiden of Dawn on her feet. She glared at those who dared hurt her Sothe. "What do you want?"

"Surrender Daein to our leader or you'll never see your soon to be husband again." Mamoru said clearly.

Sothe saw the looked in his future wife's eyes. She would do anything to get him back. If she was willing to stop a winning battle for his sake, then she would surrender her country for his sake as well.

"I..."

"Don't do it Micaiah!" Sothe shouted.

"Shut your mouth kid!" the soldier yelled as he covered the teen's mouth preventing him from speaking.

Mamoru continued to grin evilly. "You don't have to make the decision now your highness. You have three days to decide whether or not you will give up either Daein or your spouse. If you do not decide within the three days, not only will his life be in danger, but we will also invade Daein. So, you better choose what you want carefully because our boss does not care of the results."

The whisper could only feel his heart sink to see the Maiden of Dawn with a distraught look on her face. She wouldn't be able to decide between him or Daein.

"Of course, if you survive my armies attack, then you'll be able to choose what is more important." Mamoru added with a a laugh as he turned to his soldiers. "My work is done here. Yoko and you soldier will come with me. Everyone else, have fun with this sorry bunch."

Mamoru continued to laugh a bitter laugh as a dark void appeared in front of the trio. Yoko decided to jump into the void this time instead of riding the wind. The man dragged Sothe into the endless void as Sothe continued to fight against his captors.

"SOTHE!" Micaiah cried out.

It caused Sothe to break free from the man's hands temporary to give her his last words in case they were to never see each other again. "Micaiah, you know what's best for this country. Don't give it up for my sake. I'm expandable. Daein isn't."

"SOTHE NO!"

Sothe smiled weakly. "I love you Micaiah...please take care..."

The man then pushed Sothe into the dark void and disappeared. Mamoru flashed a smirk of triumph to the Maiden of Dawn as he disappeared into the darkness.

Micaiah fell to her knees. Sothe was gone, and it was her fault. "No...not Sothe..." She felt like breaking down.

"Now is not the time your highness." Tauroneo told her. "You can think of how to save Sir Sothe later when we deal with them."

Volug whined in agreement. Micaiah said nothing as she stood up and stared at each and every one of the soldiers.

 _I will never forgive you for taking Sothe away from me!_ Micaiah thought to herself as the battle started.

"Micaiah!"

The door outside to the throne room opened and outside stood the Dawn Brigade minus Edward and Jill.

"Everyone..."

"The door wouldn't open!" Pelleas explained. "We tried every way to open it and then when this dark presence disappeared, we got it to open."

The barrier that boy put up must be gone. The Maiden of Dawn thought to herself as she cast a Thani spell on the general that was too close to her liking.

"Edward is still not here yet." Leonardo lamented. "Nor is Jill."

"They'll show up eventually." Nolan exclaimed as he took out one of the soldiers with Tarvos. "You know Edward loves to fight."

"That's what I worry about..."

"Then you shouldn't worry about him and just focus on protecting our queen."

Leonardo nodded his head as Nolan killed another enemy. _Hurry up Edward. These enemies are not to be underestimated._

* * *

"Shibuya, is something wrong?" Wolf questioned the double black teen.

"No, it's nothing..." Shibuya muttered with a sigh. "I'm just worried about Yoko."

"You cheater! How dare you think of someone else than your fiancé!"

"We're not even dating Wolf, so don't start." Shibuya corrected. "Besides, Yoko is our friend and friends should look out for one another."

Wolf turned away annoyed as he went back to painting. Yes, the two were in Shibuya's room in the castle of Society of Requiem. It was one of the higher rooms in the entire castle allowing Shibuya to have a fantastic view of the city and citizens of Requiem.

Shibuya loved the Society of Requiem. It was an isolated nation from Tellius. It was forgotten by all except the rabbit tribe and the angels. The double black teen thought that their leader Tenou wanted to get rid of the rabbit tribe and angels so their nation could continue to live in isolation. He was starting to doubt his theory though because Gustav was going from nation to nation to find the remaining rabbits. Even though, the Rabbit Tribe are living in secret like they were, Gustav wouldn't leave them alone, and if it weren't for him, they wouldn't have made themselves known to the group of Beorc known as the Greil Mercenaries and now Daein was fully aware of their existence as well. It was almost like Tenou wanted Tellius to know that the Society of Requiem existed.

 _This is becoming a hassle._ Shibuya told himself as he covered his mouth when he yawned.

"Sit still Shibuya! I can't finish painting you if you move around!" Wolf ordered.

The double black shook his head. The blond who claimed was his fiancé sucked at painting pictures period. He would never do well in a fine arts class. Then again, where they both came from, the people their offered no such thing because of their leader.

There was a knock on the door. Shibuya allowed the person to come in. It was one of his faithful soldiers that was under his command.

"Your greatness, Mamoru and Yoko have completed their mission." The soldier of Requiem reported.

Shibuya shot out from his chair and cheered. "Really?" He turned to Wolf. "Come on Wolf, let's go and greet them!"

Wolf grunted as he set his brush aside. Shibuya dashed out of the room with such speed that the blond had to work to catch up with the double black teen.

* * *

Shibuya was surprised that the soldiers that Mamoru commanded were all alive and well but chances were that they didn't fight at all. Not that many soldiers that Yoko ordered around were present. That meant that Mamoru had Yoko's soldiers fight the Dawn Brigade, which Shibuya thought was rather selfish.

"Yoko, welcome back!" Shibuya greeted.

Yoko smiled softly when the double black hugged his friend. The brunette saw Wolf glaring at him again and gently pushed the excited teen away from him.

"Your fiancé will get mad at me if you keep this up." Yoko teased.

That ruined Shibuya's mood as he denied his relationship with Wolf to the blond's dismay.

"So, did you get the target?" Wolf questioned.

Yoko turned his head toward his brother and his men. The boy that was in the picture that Nemi took was captured. "I will never go through the dark portal again. I'll just ride the wind."

Mamoru tied his captive's hands behind his back and unhanded his daggers and knives. He let his men jerk the poor kid around.

"I bet he has a good body!" One of the soldiers declared.

"You know if we lay one hair on him, our boss will kill us." A second soldier warned.

"You got a point but..." The man lifted the boy's chin up so he would have to face him. "He has a cute face."

The three teens were rather disgusted by the way they treated their captive. Mamoru saw this as something amusing though.

"Hey Yoko, do you have a paddle?" The older male questioned.

"Uh yes? Why?"

"You'll see when you give it to me."

Yoko didn't like this but with a magic chant a paddle appeared in front of him. He threw the paddle toward his brother. Mamoru caught it as he turned to his men.

"Move over soldiers! I'm going to entertain myself." Mamoru ordered.

"But Commander Mamoru, I thought we weren't supposed to lay a hand on the queen's spouse."

"We can't touch his body but who said we couldn't use any tools on him?"

"I think that includes tools that are used sexually..." Shibuya snarked. "But I'm not surprised that you found a loophole in his statement."

"Be quiet. Those include enemas and dildos. This is a paddle. No harm done."

"You're a pervert if you pull his pants down."

"That'll turn you on Wolf, so I wouldn't be complaining."

"You slimy bastard!"

Mamoru scoffed as he slowly made his way toward Sothe. The thief turned his head away from the man who was forcing him to look at his hideous face.

"I wonder how many whacks it will take until you whimper." Mamoru said with a laugh. "It only takes thirty until Yoko is crying."

Yoko's entire face became a tomato. No one needed to know that. "BIG BROTHER!"

Mamoru paid no heed to his brother and ordered the guy to turn Sothe around. When he did, the paddle was already swung like a baseball bat as Shibuya noted. Yoko and Wolf looked away when the paddle came in contact with his ass. Wolf saw how his fiancé observed Mamoru's "torture" session and scolded him. He muttered that he was a two-timing pervert.

"One!" Mamoru counted as he swung again. "Two!"

"That actually looks like it hurts..." Shibuya mumbled. "Does he swing that hard when he's in bed with you?"

Yoko's cheeks turned bright pink and shook his head slowly. "He doesn't swing it that hard unless he tortures me but most of the time he swings it so slow with such low power that I don't feel anything..."

"Four!"

Sothe tried his very best not to open his mouth. He had felt similar pain like this before but there was a sensation that was going through his body every time the paddle came in contact with his rear end.

"Hey, he's shaking Commander Mamoru!" The guy holding him mentioned. "I think he likes it."

"Then I'll hit harder." Mamoru said as he swung his paddle like a sword now. "Five!"

Shibuya turned around to see Nakahito was behind him. "N-Nakahito!"

"Hey don't mind me. I'm just enjoying the show." The crazy scientist told them.

"Pedophile..." Wolf told him simply.

"Maybe."

"..."

"Eight!"

"Nine!"

Mamoru's men were starting to count with the dark sorcerer now.

"Ten!"

Mamoru put some of the power inside the paddle so when it collided, Sothe felt something inside of him change...

"Gggrh..."

"Only ten swings? Lame..." Mamoru said with a sigh as he turned to Nakahito. "Oh shit..."

"What? I said I didn't mind..."

"Not you. Him."

Mamoru pointed behind Nakahito. Behind them did their leader Tenou stand before them with an unreadable look on their face.

"TENOU!"

"BOSS!"

"It's me." Tenou replied. "And now I want you all to leave now."

Shibuya, Wolf, Yoko and Mamoru glanced at each other and they all ran off in one direction shouting, "RUN AWAY!"

Mamoru's soldiers also fled in all directions yelling how they were innocent. That just left Nakahito who had a staring contest with his boss.

"Get me that thing." Tenou ordered.

"Fine by me." Nakahito replied as he walked away.

It was just him and Sothe in the throne room now. Sothe glared at the only face in the room as he slowly backed up.

"There's no reason to be afraid of me." Tenou replied. "You'll going to be here for a while, so why don't you make the best of it."

"Who are you?" Sothe questioned cautiously.

"Oh how rude of me. I am Tenou. The God of Society of Requiem."

"God?"

"I am above those kings, queens and empresses. They are all weak compared to me."

 _Someone is haughty._ Sothe thought to himself as he searched for a way out of this place.

"But the only thing that compares to me are those rabbits and those angels." Tenou explained. "In order to get rid of those threats, war must spread across Tellius again."

"Again?"

"The Mad King's War and the war between Bengion and the Laguz Alliance. They did not do their job because of a bunch of humans that call themselves the Greil Mercenaries."

"Ike and the Greil Mercenaries?"

"If I can get rid of them and conquer every nation, then I will have total power." An evil smiled appeared as he walked closer to the green haired teen. "But what's the point of ruling Tellius alone if I don't have someone by my side?"

"If you're asking me to give up on Micaiah and go with some freaky lunatic like you, forget it."

"I knew you were going to say that. That is why we're going to play a game." When he said that, he snapped his figures as the rope that tied behind Sothe's wrists were cut. "If you can get out of this castle without running into me or my room, you'll be allowed to go back to your precious queen. However, if you can't get away from me, then the deal that I allowed your queen will be off."

"You scum...you're not giving me much of a choice."

"You're in my territory now. If you don't play the game, then I'll take you as my property now."

Sothe frowned. This man was not bluffing. He had to get out of here and warn the Micaiah about The Society of Requiem.

"You're on."

Sothe took off in a flash zipping past Tenou. The door Sothe took was the one that the four teen's escaped to. Tenou laughed as he saw the green haired teen leave the throne room.

"You can run, but you can't hide. I'll find you."

* * *

By the time Edward and Jill arrived in Nevassa to aid their friends, Micaiah had taken out most of the soldiers single handedly. The Silver Haired Maiden was not to be angered but the minute Sothe was taken from her, her power increased by ten-fold without Sothe as a support unit. Laura had to constantly heal her as well as everyone else since the Maiden of Dawn refused to heal her comrades.

Pelleas tried to calm his queen down as she went on a rampage but no avail. Eventually, he too would be healing his comrades along with Laura.

Nolan, Volug, Zihark and Tauroneo had taken out the other half of the army that Micaiah had not killed. Leonardo was more of a support but alas, the battle was proven difficult without Sothe wearing out the enemies for them. It would have been nice if Fiona and Meg were around but Fiona was out patrolling the borders of Marado and Meg was back in Ohma helping out with her father Brom. Once Edward and Jill came, they wiped out the remainder of the enemy reinforcements with ease.

"Where were you?" Leonardo asked the brunette. "We could have used your help sooner."

"Sorry, we were held back by this thing." Edward answered as he pointed to the gray rabbit that had attached himself onto his shoulder.

The marksmen took one look at the gray rabbit and smiled sheepishly. "He's cute."

"His name is Comet." Edward told him. "And...I think this is the reason why Daein was attacked."

The queen of Daein finally calmed herself down so she could appeal to the gray rabbit. "This is what these soldiers wanted?" She wondered out loud. "Where did you find him?"

"He was injured outside the capital of Bengion." Jill explained. "Edward nursed him back to health. That was when these suspicious men in black clothing appeared and asked about him."

"I knew they were nothing but trouble but we managed to get out of the situation without a fight." Edward continued, "But the leader told us that something bad would happen to Daein if we were lying. We were worried so we rushed over here as fast as we could but his omen was correct..."

"It's my fault..." The Silver Haired Maiden mumbled. "If I could have foreseen this, Sothe wouldn't be in their hands..."

"What? Sothe was taken away?!" Jill asked loudly.

Micaiah nodded her head sadly. "I couldn't do anything to stop it..."

"My queen if I may." Tauroneo began. "I don't think it was your fault. You had lost your power to see the future after Sir Ike defeated the Goddess Ashera so it was unpreventable."

"But Sothe is suffering because of me..." The Maiden of Dawn inquired. "As the queen, I had failed him."

"Micaiah, you need to have faith in Sothe." Edward told her with a smile. "I don't think he'll sit quietly without a fight."

"But he won't be able to keep it up. If I tell them that I want to save Daein, Sothe will remain in their hands and they'll probably kill him or worse...and if I choose Sothe, what we've been fighting for all of this time will be for nothing..."

The fifteenth queen of Daein wanted to breakdown. She wouldn't get a chance because the gray rabbit jumped off of Edward's back and shifted into his human form.

"I think the worse is yet to come." Comet told her bluntly. "But I think if you have faith in the one you love, he'll come back to you unharmed. And who knows, maybe you'll be lucky and you can save Daein and your lover."

 _Lover..._ Micaiah thought to herself. During the entire course of liberating Daein, she thought she was falling for Sothe. She realized later that he was like a little brother to her that she had to protect with all of her might, so when Sothe proposed to her, she was beyond shock. She didn't think Sothe thought of her that way the years they knew each other. When she told him to wait until he was an adult, it was her way of saying she wasn't ready for a relationship but the whisper probably didn't pick up on that. When she talked to Pelleas about the situation between her and Sothe, he gave her wonderful advise that she couldn't help smiling to. Sometimes, she wondered if her heart was in the right place when she told Sothe to wait for her.

Now though when Sothe was taken from her and he confessed his love to her again as if this was the last time they would see each other, the light priestess knew that she indeed had feelings for the green haired teen. She had to get him back, but she couldn't go against Sothe's wishes to protect Daein.

"Hey, are you listening girl?"

 _This Laguz is just as blunt as Edward._ Leonardo thought to himself as he faced the leader of the Dawn Brigade.

"I'm sorry...I need some time alone to think of a plan..." The queen of Daein told her fellow comrades. Slowly she made her way out of the throne room.

"I'll accompany you." Pelleas offered.

Micaiah shook her head. "No, I can make it back by myself..."

The dark sage frowned as he watched his queen head back to her room. "Micaiah..."

All attention turned to Comet who shifted back into his rabbit form. "Now how are we going to clean all of these corpses..." Nolan wondered.

As if on cue, Comet opened his mouth and sucked in all the corpses into his mouth. Everyone had wide eyes when the last body of the soldiers was swallowed. Comet then reverted back to his human form and declared. "All full!"

"I was right. This Laguz has a lot in common with you Edward..." Leonardo told the brunette.

"Really? Which part...?"

"Just...about everything..."

* * *

Yoko didn't know why he was hiding out in Aussa's room out of all people. The girl was crazy in terms of having a pink room. Was it because that Aussa would hide him if one of the higher up question about him? Or was it because they were playing a game called Whack-A-Mole that made him stay and test his agility at the game.

"I'm going to beat you Yoko." The orange haired teen teased as she hit five moles at an incredible speed with her toy mallet.

"Eh, that's not fair. You play this game every day."

"That's why I'm so accurate with hammers."

"It's creative. I'm surprised that Nakahito made you a game like this."

"Well, when I go into battle, I will not be missing my opponents. Remember, speed and power is important in battle."

"But you leave yourself wide open."

"When people think that, they get their heads hacked off."

"Scary..."

Aussa did when the game by a huge score difference but Yoko didn't mind. It didn't matter to him who won or who lost as long as you had fun with what you were doing and became closer friends. Yoko thanked her for playing when someone barged into the room.

"Hey, where is my lovely Lust?"

The man had indigo dyed hair and dazzling blue eyes. He was extremely tall for his age and wore a black jacket and jeans.

"Pride, get out of my room!" Aussa shouted as she threw a pillow at him.

"Oh, no need to get jealous of my beauty little Aussa."

"I hate it when men barge into my room! What happens if I was getting dressed! Now get the hell out!"

Aussa looked ready to throw a hand axe at the man so Pride was about to turn tail and run but then he saw a certain thief running in the halls.

"Hey, the captive is escaping!" Pride shouted as he pointed to the thief who stopped in his tracks. Pride grinned as he got out a huge sword out ready to take down the kid when something hit him in the back of his head knocking him out.

"He leaves himself wide open..." Yoko said with a sigh as Aussa dragged Pride into her room before staring at the thief.

"Hey you, are you the boss' new pet?"

Sothe's eyebrow twitched. Even though he was technically free for the moment, Tenou's followers already associated him as his pet. "Pet?"

"Oh, you aren't one yet are you. Well, come inside my room. Tenou will be walking through this hallway soon."

Sothe had no choice but to comply. Yoko was surprised to see the green haired teen again.

"You!"

"Sorry for the rough treatment." Yoko said with a wink. "My brother isn't usually like that but he was rather stressed not being able to stay and fight against Daein with honor instead of retreating like a coward."

"I don't trust you."

"How rude! Here we are saving your skin when-"

"Aussa, it's okay. Mamoru and I are his kidnappers so it's only natural for him to think that." Yoko said calmly.

"But..."

For the first time, Sothe was able to feel slightly at ease speaking to the wind sorcerer. Just by talking, Sothe could conclude that Yoko wasn't out to hurt him. His friend Aussa was also easy to talk to.

"I got one question." Sothe began. "Why did he choose me to be his..."

"He's a creeper." Aussa answered quickly. "He looks for hot kids from the pictures Nemi takes of them and then orders one of us to capture them and then he turns them into a sex slave until Nakahito experiments on them which eventually kills them..."

"The poor unfortunate souls..." Yoko whispered.

While had no idea what "taking pictures" meant, from the way they worded it, Tenou was obviously spying on these youthful boys and waiting for the chance to kidnap them. Sothe shivered at the thought. If he didn't get out of here, he would end up like them?

"Don't worry, as long as you avoid Tenou, Nakahito, and Kizuna and basically all of the adults that are obedient to our boss, then you'll make it out of this alive. You can trust us teenagers and Nemi. Frank won't say a thing and I'm sure Atsuki won't either because he refused to do this mission for a change."

"What about that guy?" Sothe questioned as he pointed to Pride's unconscious figure.

"Tell him where his 'love' Lust is and he won't say a thing unless Lust commands it." Aussa said simply.

The information was indeed helpful for the whisper that when there was a knock on the door and it was obviously Tenou, Aussa ordered Yoko to hide Sothe in her closet.

Aussa creaked the door opened and glared at the man on the other side. "What do you want?"

"I was wondering if you seen my new pet around?"

The orange haired teen shook her head. "No. I didn't see or hear anyone and even if I did, you know I hate men."

"Oh really? When you speak to Nemi, you-"

"ACHOO!"

Aussa facepalmed when Yoko sneezed. Tenou forced the door opened and only saw Pride laying on the bed seemingly asleep and Yoko next to the closet with a bra on his head.

"And you say you hate men..." Tenou said not convinced.

"Yoko! What the hell are you doing with my bra?" Aussa questioned as she chased Yoko around the room. Tenou could only grin sinisterly as he snapped his fingers. Aussa felt something in her room change. Tenou left the two teenagers be as he continued to walk down the hall.

"Yoko...I have a bad feeling about this..." Aussa muttered when she took her bra back.

The wind sorcerer confirmed her worries when he opened the closet and Sothe was gone. "Shit!"

* * *

One moment Sothe was in the closet of a woman one moment and the next minute, he found himself falling through the darkness. He opened his eyes and found himself on a huge king's mattress with white sheets.

"What just happened?" Sothe asked himself as he looked around. Everything in the room looked expensive. It seemed to be the room of a rich person...

"Looks like you lost the game."

Sothe froze when he saw Tenou at the entrance of his door. "How did you know-?"

"That girl thinks I'm so stupid." Tenou explained. "When I saw Pride on her bed, I knew she was hiding something. I should punish her later, but what would be the point? She's one of my best warriors so I'll let her think about her failure to protect you. And that Yoko kid gave you away too. He's not good at lying."

The God walked over to his bed slowly. Sothe tried to get off the bed before things turned into a disaster but he found that his body was paralyzed.

"Mamoru is good." Tenou said. "He must have cursed you to stop you at the right moment."

"Damn..."

"There is no escape. You are mine now."

Sothe continued to struggle to break free from the curse but no prevail. It wasn't long before Tenou sat on the bed next to him. He shivered when he felt his chin being raised to his face length.

"You are beautiful." Tenou commented. "I won't let you go back to your queen so why won't you just love me?"

"Forget it! I'm already taken! No way will a pedophile like you will ever change that!"

Sothe needed to act like he wasn't panicking. Unfortunately, he was. He tried to avoid eye contact with the man but Tenou prevented that.

"I might not be able to change your mind, but let's see she didn't love you like you love her. What would you do?"

Looking into Tenou's eyes were a mistake. Sothe immediately received images of Micaiah and Pelleas came into mind. He shook his head rapidly trying to get those thoughts out of his head. He wouldn't think the light priestess would betray him for someone like that.

"Ah, I see you have doubts about your queen. Let me tell you this, when I'm done with you, she won't want you anymore because you were the one who couldn't stay faithful."

"No...Micaiah isn't like that.." Sothe told himself rather than Tenou. "We promised we would be together..."

"What does together mean?" Tenou asked. "In marriage, friendship or just queen and servant? And didn't she leave you behind once before? What makes you think she won't do that again?"

His words cut like a knife. His resolve to fight back weakened greatly. If Mamoru truly cursed him to be affected by spells like this, then he was screwed. "Please stop..."

"Oh? I was right about that assumption. Well, let me just say this right now. Your queen doesn't love you."

"SHUT UP!"

If he used the last bit of his energy to resist, he wouldn't have been in this situation. Sothe found himself looking into Tenou's eyes when he denied his words. The whisper found those black eyes...mesmerizing. He couldn't look away from those orbs.

"You can deny that she doesn't love you but it doesn't change the fact that you're my pet."

Sothe couldn't move his body anymore. His eyes remained locked toward the "God" before him as he pulled his shirt off of him.

"Beautiful."

Feeling like a helpless animal was the worse feeling for Sothe. When he got forced into hopeless situations, he tried to remain strong. Alas, when he really needed to be strong, he failed. Cold hands touched his stomach causing a tingly feeling from within. He flinched feeling that hand trailed down his stomach to his belt. The thief attempted to his hand to swat those icy ones away but his body refused to respond to what he wanted and instead was reacting in ways he would never expect it to react. Sothe was forced to watch as his belt was taken away from him and his pants slid down slowly. Soon he was only in his boxers.

"Your queen has just lost her most prize possession." Tenou said with a laugh as he pulled the boxers off of him revealing his length. "Cute."

The minute he felt his cock being seized by the older man, he felt his senses come back to him as he struggled to get away from the older man.

"Get off me you pervert..."

"Did you just order me?"

Sothe soon found his hands being tied above his head with a rope. His eyes widened in horror as Tenou looked down at him.

"A pet cannot order his master."

Tenou stroked Sothe's length slowly at first. Sothe felt his entire body suddenly feel hot as he tried to resist the upcoming pleasure but it was no use.

"You like that, don't you? Well, when you're with me, you'll get a lot of this."

"Stop..."

Sothe's mind came to a stop when his chin was seized again and he was pulled into a kiss. He shut his eyes tightly. He hadn't even kissed Micaiah yet and he found his first kiss being stolen by this creepy man who claimed to be a God. Sothe couldn't bite the other's tongue that was exploring the insides of his mouth because Tenou wouldn't let him. Tenou broke away from the kiss and smirked. "You'll be a good kisser once I'm done with you."

Tenou began to undress in front of his captive. He gave a perverted grin when he took his boxers down revealing his dick that was covered in pre-cum.

"Now I'll give you a choice. You can either suck my dick or let me penetrate you. Either way is fine."

Sothe did not answer. This wasn't supposed to be happening. He shouldn't be making decisions like these. He was too young for something like this.

_Too young..._

"I guess I'll fuck you since you won't answer."

The vulgar language Sothe snapped back to reality. "D-Don't...I can't..."

"Be quiet. I don't want to hear your protest."

Tenou took a gag that was on his bed and wrapped it around Sothe's mouth.

"Now I don't have to hear your pathetic whining."

Tenou spread the teen's legs and grinned as he positioned himself to enter. Sothe kicked at him though so he wouldn't go into his hole yet. Tenou was forced to slap the teen to put him in a little daze as he realized his cock would not fit in the hole unless he did something.

"Lucky for you, I'll be teasing you first."

Sothe gasped when he felt a finger enter his hole. It felt weird for something to be inserted in there. Then, two fingers were inserted. Once the two fingers were in deeply, he spread them out.

"Mmmph!"

Tenou laughed as he inserted a third finger. The painful sensation was running through his body. If one more finger was inserted, then...

Instead of a pinkie being inserted, Tenou positioned himself for the entrance again after taking the three fingers out really fast. Sothe felt the other's cock poking at his entrance. He wanted to scream for help. He wanted someone to rescue him from this nightmare but no one was coming.

"Let's start!"

Sothe felt his body being split apart the minute Tenou's dick was inserted into his whole. He quickly thrusted in and out within his body. With each thrust, a muffled scream was heard from the green haired teen and a pleasurable sigh from the older man.

Tenou hadn't had this pleasure in so long that he didn't seem to care if he was hurting his pet or not. As he thrusted faster, drips of blood were leaking from the entrance acting as a lube for the younger male.

"God, you are so tight! Gnng...you make me feel so good kid!" Tenou declared. "I'm not going to last long! Heh...hope you're ready for a breeding session..."

 _No please, don't cum inside!_ Sothe cried to himself but his pleas were not heard.

Tenou moaned as he released his seed into his captive. Sothe felt his body twitch feeling the older man's juices fill him up to the brim. It was a strange feeling. Sothe was glad that the nightmare was over. He found it difficult to breathe. Something died inside but Sothe didn't know what. The older man then took out his dick and let the semen leek out of his hole.

"I don't care if your queen says she wants you back. You are mine no matter what she says!" Tenou declared.

Realizing he'd get no response from his pet, he undid the tie in the rope and removed the gag knowing that his pet wouldn't even dare escape.

"I'll be right back." Tenou told him. "We'll continue our session when I get back."

Sothe waited until the leader of Society of Requiem left. Slowly he got off the bed. He wanted to get out of this hellhole but he had no energy to stand up and leave. Sothe fell to the floor next to the bed. The whisper then brought his knees to his chest and rested his head on his knees.

 _Dammit...I couldn't do anything to defend myself._ Sothe thought to himself as he felt himself trembling all over. _I'm sorry Micaiah. I finally understand what you mean when I was too young to be taking our relationship to the next level._ Small droplets fell from his eyes. _I know I told you to choose Daein over me, but...but...please get me out of this place! I don't think I can take other session..._

If anyone was near Tenou's room, they could hear small sobs behind the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 10938 words. Now, the battle method.
> 
> Chapter 2: The Question
> 
> Victory: Rout Enemy
> 
> Defeat: Any player unit dies
> 
> Player Units: 12 Units (Micaiah, Edward, Leonardo, Nolan, Laura, Aran, Volug, Jill, Zihark, Tauroneo, Pelleas and Comet)
> 
> Partner Units: None
> 
> Enemy Units: 30 units (22 on easy)
> 
> Reinforcements: Three halberdiers at the entrance on turns three, six, nine, twelve and fifteen
> 
> Items: Vulnerary and Elfire (dropped)
> 
> You know the chapter in Path of Radiance when Ike had to defeat Ena to seize Daein? Well, you're in that area again with more room to fight than before. Micaiah, Volug and Tauroneo will start in the throne room while the Dawn Brigade will be outside of the throne room. Your goal is to rout the enemy and it won't be easy. Many of the enemy reinforcements are berserkers and halberdiers. Until Edward, Jill and Comet come on the sixth turn, Zihark will be the one dealing with the berserkers.
> 
> Let your trueblades attack the berserkers and Nolan for the halberdiers. Aran should take care of the swordsmaster and have Volug take care of the mages. Micaiah will not be needing protection as she is in berserk mode. Any opponent that tries to attack her will surely be killed as she will double her opponents and with Thani, the generals don't stand a chance.
> 
> Overall, this is a rather easy chapter. Just pay attention to your healers and you'll be fine.
> 
> An updated list of the villains...
> 
> 1\. Tenou a God (Think of Ashera from RG Veda and Tsubasa Chronicles)
> 
> 2\. Atsuki a Trueblade (Think of Nakago from Fushigi Yugi)
> 
> 3\. Nakahito (Think of Nagi Springfield from Negima)
> 
> 4\. Kizuna a Tiger Laguz (think of Kaga from Hikaru No Go)
> 
> 5\. Nemi (Think of Negi from Negima)
> 
> 6\. Frank (Think of Frankenstein)
> 
> 7\. Leo (Think of Recca from Flame of Recca)
> 
> 8\. Glacia (Think of Tokiya from Flame of Recca)
> 
> 9\. Aussa a Reaver (Think of Asuna from Negima)
> 
> 10\. Gustav (Think of Oliver only with pale skin)
> 
> 11\. Shigeru (Think of Kiyomaro from Konjiki No Gash Bell)
> 
> 12\. Mamoru a Dark Sorcerer (Think of Hao from Shaman King)
> 
> 13\. Yoko a Wind Sorcerer (Think of Yoh from Shaman King)
> 
> 14\. Wolf (Think of Wolfram from Kyo Kara Maou AKA God Save Our King)
> 
> 15\. Shibuya (Think of Yuri from Kyo Kara Maou AKA God Save Our King)
> 
> 16\. Pride a Dark Sorcerer (Think of an older version of Decus from Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World)
> 
> 17\. Lust (Think of an older version of Alice only with black hair from Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World)
> 
> 18\. Greed an Assassin (Think of Tomo from Fushigi Yugi)
> 
> 19\. Unnamed male member
> 
> 20\. Unnamed female member
> 
> 21\. Unnamed female member
> 
> 22\. Gluttony (Think of Road from D Gray Man)
> 
> 23\. Envy (Unknown appearance)
> 
> 24\. Sloth a Sentinel (Think of Hotaru from Sailor Moon) DEAD
> 
> If you want to know, the sorcerer class is one that can use a sword as well as one magic spell. In this case, Mamoru can use a sword and dark magic. In fact, all the teen members are sorcerers as well as Leo, Glacia and a member not introduced. Out of all of them, Shibuya is surprisingly the strongest and the reason why won't be relieved until much later.
> 
> Berserk mode is when something bad happens to the character story wise and for that chapter only, their stats will double. In other words, they become a tank until you complete the chapter. Micaiah in this chapter went into berserk mode because Sothe was taken away from her but other characters will soon go into berserk mode later on in the story (most noticeably Shinon.)


	8. Saya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Due to annoying many members of the Society of Requiem, Leo is sent on a mission to stop the Greil Mercenaries. Knowing full well that he might get killed if he underestimates them, he asks Nakahito for advice. This advice could very well lead him down the wrong path, but thankfully a red rabbit will help him out, but that help could lead the Greil Mercenaries one step closer to uncovering the secrets of Society of Requiem and they got a mysterious white rabbit to thank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Leo is a bad joker. Enjoy the chapter.

_I've been having this bad feeling in my gut the night the humans that defeated Ashera saved the yellow rabbit. That bad feeling was that the Society of Requiem was on the move at long last. They were no longer making their activities secret. They intend to destroy Tellius in which the Mad King's War and the Goddesses could not._

_Daein is already a victim. I could feel a gloomy atmosphere coming from the palace. Something bad happened to the Silver Haired Maiden. I want to see what is going on but I cannot. If I make my appearance known, then everyone will suffer because of me because when I appear, the two people, one Beorc and one Laguz will accidentally take my powers and be the ones that will be the downfall of King Tempest._

_I cannot not allow him to die when he has yet to atone for his sins that he did not commit. So, I will try my best to stay hidden...as much as I hate hiding...I have two kids and they are not doing so well because their leader the gray rabbit, has left in search of the orange rabbit that went looking for my children._

_Even though I swore never to appear in the open, I feel like I'll have to make my appearance because the Society of Requiem is planning to attack the Greil Mercenaries again...and King Tempest won't be able to help them._

* * *

"Come on Shigeru! Play with me!" Leo shouted in a robotic voice.

The brunette avoided his friend as he walked toward the throne room. Leo wanted to play many games from his world which included "In your pants" and "Yo mama" jokes. He also mentioned the game but he wasn't going to lose that anytime soon.

"Tenou, you called us?" Shigeru asked ignoring his friend.

"Answer me Shigeru! Dammit!"

Their boss was very jolly now that he had his pet under his blanket and Daein in the palm of his hands. It would be easier to speak to him now that his needs were met at the moment.

"Yes," Tenou replied. "In fact-"

"Hey Shigeru! You lost the game!"

The brunette glared at the flame sorcerer. "You need to shut up and do that to someone else."

Leo sighed. "You're no fun..."

"Leo..." Tenou began.

"Yes boss?"

"I have a mission for you since you seem to have a lot of spare time."

Leo nodded his head. Shigeru mumbled about how stupid he was before their God continued.

"Ask away."

"As you know, I have Daein under my controls. No matter what the queen's response is, Daein and her spouse belong to me. Now, Nemi has told you a way to kill the black rabbit right?"

"Yeah. The person who can bond with the rabbits and the person that can make the black rabbit fall head over heels with."

"Correct. Sloth was sent to investigate the village of the angels. Her mission was a failure as it cost that girl her life and the village was burned in a last ditch effort. None of the Greil Mercenaries were slain and that's where you come in." Tenou cleared his throat before he gave his order. "I want you to bring down the Greil Mercenaries and bring the one that has formed a bond with the rabbit tribe."

Leo seemed to understand his orders and nodded his head theory. "So, does that mean I can use my dragons?"

"Any means necessary as long as you complete your mission. Remember, if the Greil Mercenaries are killed, life will be much easier for me."

Leo sent his fist flying in the air. "Yes a mission, finally!"

Shigeru frowned. "Are you going to be okay? If you underestimate the Greil Mercenaries, you'll be joining Sloth."

"And Sloth overestimated them and got herself slaughtered..." Leo mumbled in a rather serious tone. "I'll avenge her for Greed's sake. But if I use my dragons, it'll be a guarantee victory."

"Leo..."

"I'm Pyro of the Dark Stalkers," Leo reminded him. "Fire cannot harm me. And this world doesn't use water or ice attacks, so I'll be fine."

The brunette said nothing as Leo excused himself from the throne room talking to himself what he was going to do on the mission. Shigeru turned back to Tenou. "Is this all right?"

"He needs to get out." Tenou told him. "If he stays here and does nothing, everyone will suffer from his childish games."

"They aren't childish...they're just...weird..."

"Whatever you say, but I'm counting on you to find that sword your mother lost."

Shigeru frowned at the thought. "Understood..."

* * *

Nemi hurried along the hallway of Society of Requiem. He had so much to do thanks to Tenou. Ever since Mamoru and Yoko got mission accomplish, he was piled with more work. It didn't help that Society of Requiem had a different time zone. When Mamoru told the queen of Daein she had three days to come up with a decision, it would be nine days total in Society of Requiem. It would be enough time for them to gain the upper hand and for Tenou to break his new pet.

 _I feel sorry for that guy._  Nemi thought to himself as he hurried to the library. Too bad for him, he crashed into Leo who wasn't looking where he was going.

"Sorry Nemi! Didn't mean to knock you down!" Leo apologized as he helped the ten year old up.

"Leo-san, why are you so happy?" The kid genius ask.

"No Japanese honorifics when we're in this area," Leo warned him. "And I finally got a mission to take down the Greil Mercenaries."

Nemi gasped. "W-What?"

"Don't worry. I'll live to see another day. If I don't, Glacia will drag me from hell...and kill me again..." Leo flinched at the thought of the ice sorcerer freezing him to death. "So, I'll see you when I get back."

"W-Wait!"

"Yes?"

"...Please don't cause unnecessary death...I think the Greil Mercenaries are kind people."

Leo gave the kid a thumbs-up before he dashed away to his headquarters ready to go overboard with his army.

* * *

As Leo headed to the seventh division headquarters, he stopped when he saw a familiar face.

"Nakahito, over here!"

The father of Nemi Springfield stopped in his tracks and faced the direction of the fire sorcerer. He had an unreadable expression for a few seconds before he plastered a grin on his face.

"Is there anything you need my good friend?"

Leo chuckled nervously as he ran up to him. The goofy expression on his face was replaced with something serious. "Nakahito, I need your advice."

"You actually want advice? That's new!" Nakahito couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey, I can ask for these things like everyone else. Anyways, I was assigned a mission to defeat the Greil Mercenaries and I was wondering if you knew anything about their leader or just about the target."

"I think Kizuna and Shigeru know the target better than anyone here." Nakahito admitted.

"I know those two have a past with him together but I just need a typical description."

Nakahito sighed as he rubbed his temples. "I should have my son take a picture of him when they aren't so guarded but here is my description. His name is Shinon, age thirty despite looking in his early twenties, but that may be because of his heritage that Kizuna or Shigeru will not talk about. He has his mother's looks and personality but unique powers like his father."

Leo yawned. He wanted the physical description and not the heritage. Of course, Nakahito only cared for anybody that was considered a unique breed so it was only natural for him to be ranting like this and wasting his time.

"Lived in Bengion for some time and his father was a-"

"Appearance please!" Leo yelled bonking his oldest friend on the head.

"Right. He is very tall, slim figure, feminine appearance, red hair, green eyes, wears all green, a master of archery and is usually seen at bars wasting away."

"And he got that from Hinata..."

Leo jumped when he heard the voice. "K-Katelyn!"

"I threw that name away. I'm called Lust now, remember."

Nakahito glanced at the new arrival. Lust was one of the lower members of Society of Requiem but she was still very powerful, knowable and cunning. She was probably one of the few people Nakahito actually liked and did not consider her disposable. She looked young for her age but most of the members re-named by Tenou as the seven sins looked younger than they appeared to be. She had medium black hair and gold eyes. Her lance was carried behind her back similar to a sword. Yes, her weapon was well made and very powerful.

"Nakahito, you shouldn't tell Hinata's son's life story. Someone will be talking about your background if you keep this up," Lust threatened as she glared at Leo. "You should be getting ready to leave."

"Y-Yes ma'am..."

"And I'm dying to see my friend's son again so do not fail the mission or I'll ask Pride to deal with you personally. Believe me, I don't think you want him flashing you."

Leo trembled at the thought of seeing another man's penis and being on the bottom of the relationship so he nodded his head firmly.

Lust smiled cutely. "Great. I'll see you when you get back."

With that the girl galloped away to the higher divisions. Leo turned to Nakahito and let out a swarm of curse words.

"Damn her! She's rank seventeen of the division but she acts like she is Tenou's left hand woman when you're his left hand! Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Not at all," Nakahito said with a smile. "I think there is meaning in what she says."

"Traitor, I might not come out of this mission and alive and you-"

Leo's eyes widened in horror when he felt a tongue slip into his mouth. He tried to resist but found himself not being able to. Nakahito pulled away from the kiss and gave a sincere smile causing the younger man to blush.

"Here is my advice." Nakahito began. "You have mastered the nine most powerful fire dragons in our world. Number seven should be able to take the Greil Mercenaries out. Number four is too risky and number eight will come in handy if you have causalities on your side of the field.  **Do not**  use number nine unless absolutely necessary. One, two and three are used in standard combat but because there is so much at risk, do not use them. Five is a good defense and six should be used only when the target is alone, but knowing you, attacking them head on after defeating Sloth will be easy for you."

Leo stared at the scientist before responding. "You basically told me stuff I already know, but number seven hates me at the moment for not getting him any photos of the hot chicks in this area."

"He'll get over it." Nakahito said bluntly as he pulled out a book of formulas from his robe. "Now if you excuse me, I have other things to attend to like inventing another sex toy for Tenou and so on..."

"Hey, when you finish with that dildo, I want to have it."

"For what purpose?"

"If I have one, I'm going to run around Society of Requiem and have the chicks run up to me when they see how big a fake penis is."

Nakahito laughed sincerely for once as he promised that he would make one for him after he finished the enema. As Nakahito disappeared from Leo's eyesight, Leo couldn't help but apologize to Glacia for kissing another man. And of course, Frank saw the whole thing but said nothing.

* * *

Leo went overkill when it came to his army. He took fifty-three of his best men and then left The Society of Requiem. He was sent away with a wave from the people.

His men were not all that bright like their commander. They followed him willingly to the destination where Sloth was killed. It didn't take long when they all disappeared in the flames and then came back on it. After all, Leo was a fire sorcerer so he could transport his comrades by fire if they were loyal to him.

"So Commander Leo, why are we here again?" the fourth in command questioned.

Leo thought for a moment. "We are here for...uh...umm..."

The dark redhead paused for a few minutes. His army waited patiently for an answer. Leo pounded one of his fist into the palm of his other hand when he gave his response. "We're here to avenge Sloth's death...and... retrieve the one who can speak to the rabbit...but I have no idea what that means..." Leo turned to his second in command. "You there! Explain why we have to capture a stranger that probably is a nobody?"

"Commander Leo, I believe Shigeru explained it to you before. There are two people that are needed to kill the King of the Rabbit tribe. The one with who can bring all the rabbits together and the one that can melt his heart. Gustav has claimed that one of the members from the Greil Mercenaries was the one Tenou was searching for because the two rabbits that he let escaped clung to him. Now, he could be wrong because the rabbits are attracted to kind people as well as their destined partner but if the black rabbit helps him out in desperate need, then he is either subject A or B. Now, we won't know unless we see him command the rabbits and they obey without resistance. Of course, if the white rabbit appears, she can direct us to the two people we need for our plans because of her luminous light." The second in commander paused. "HEY, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"

"What?"

The second in commander shook his head in annoyance. "Unbelievable. I don't know what you're doing that could be more important than listening to me!"

"This!"

Leo took out a Molotov from his waistband and through it in some random direction setting wherever the fire item landed ablaze. His soldiers stared at him dumbfounded.

"What have you done?"

"Target practice." Leo joked. "If I'm lucky, they'll be in that area."

"Would they have any reason to be...near Bengion?"

"No..."

"You're being unreasonable so I think we should go and look at the damage."

Leo sighed. His second in command was just as nosy as Glacia.

* * *

Leo stared at the house in horror. His prank might have gone too far this time. The Molotov landed in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't even near the place Sloth's army was defeated. There was only a small hut in the middle of the woods. It was set ablaze and anyone in the house was easily incinerated. Leo prayed that no one was in the house.

"Grandma, what happened? Grandma!"

All hopes for any survivors fell the minute he heard the voice of a young child. The child had spiky red hair, similar to him and red eyes. He wore all red representing that he was related to fire one way or another. The most intriguing features about the kid though were that he had red bunny ears and a red gem on his forehead.

"Rabbit spotted!" One of his men declared. They all looked ready to seize the rabbit when...

"Hold your fire!" Leo commanded. "I will not let you harm the kid..."

Leo frowned when he saw that the kid was crying for his dead grandmother. She managed to make it out of the house on time but most of her body was burned to a crisp. She spoke a few soft words to the red rabbit before she left this world.

"Kid...I'm sorry..."

The red rabbit shook his head. "She was really old but still...who set our home on fire...it's unforgivable."

Leo didn't want to tell the red rabbit that it was his fault that he lost his only non-blood related relative but he didn't want to lie to him either. However, he wouldn't be scolded by the higher ups or Tenou if he brought back a rabbit. More so, if the rabbit came with him willingly, then there would be no problems to adding him to his ranks.

"I know who did it..." Leo began in a serious tone.

The red rabbit glared in his direction. "Who?"

"The Greil Mercenaries," Leo replied filling his heart pounding in guilt for putting the blame on someone else. "They are a group of ruthless sellswords who take what they please, kill whomever they want and rape your childrens."

"Children..." His second in command corrected.

"I knew that! Anyways, we were trying to stop them from burning this hut down but we failed. We may be many but they are powerful when they are few. One in particular seems to be the one who put a torch on his arrow and set the place in flames."

Leo noticed how gullible this rabbit was. He hated playing games with the heart but maybe if he was lucky, the Greil Mercenaries would screw up and what he said wouldn't really be a lie.

"Who?"

"It's actually who we are looking for. He's the sniper of the group. Slim figure to the point to be mistaken as a women...umm...pink...or was it red hair? Oh yeah, he wears all green and he is a pedophile!"

The red rabbit was actually convinced by the last part that Leo couldn't help but laugh at himself at how gullible the kid was.

"Unforgivable! I can't let him get away with killing my grandma!"

"My army and I were going to go and bring the Greil Mercenaries to justice but it will be difficult. If you were with us, we would have the strength to take them down and capture the old ha...woman's killer."

The red rabbit took out a red spell book and held it in the air. "With my powers, we will definitely stop them!"

"That's the spirit! What's your name kid?"

"My grandma named me Tenderheart but I prefer to be called Blaze!" The red rabbit answered.

"Nice nickname Blaze. I'm Leo Hanabishi, but Leo for short. From here on out, we are partners in crime."

Tenderheart smiled. Leo thought he felt a surge of power from inside of him. He thought it was guilt but it was something else entirely. Little did he know, he had just formed a bond with the red rabbit.

* * *

After the incident in the Village of the Angels, the Greil Mercenaries had no choice but to camp out in the forest for the night, but some of the older members got up early to help build graves for those villagers who died.

Gatrie noticed that Shinon wasn't doing so well. The marshall knew that if he didn't carry the marksmen out of hut then he would have been killed along with his grandfather. He questioned if it was the right thing to do.

_Then again, I had no idea that that old man was Shinon's..._

Gatrie let out a huge sigh when Shinon was ignoring him. It was always him that took the guilt trip.

Shinon's depressing aura was rather obvious actually. While the redhead acted like always, it was to be noted that he didn't have a good comeback when Soren was ordering him around. Gem saw that when the others weren't looking, he would let out a sigh that would equal to hundred sighs. The yellow rabbit would soon address that.

"Shinon, you did not just sigh did you?" he questioned innocently.

"I did. Your point?"

Fake tears soon began to form in Gem's eyes. "If you keep sighing like that, you'll never get married, and you're going to lead a slow depressing life and you're going to have wrinkles and..."

Gem went on with the list of negatives. While the first thing was an old saying the others were just supplementary to add to the miserable things' list.

"Shut up..." Was all Shinon told the yellow rabbit before he finished his assignment and left the baffled kid.

"Shinon..."

* * *

Once the sun was highest in the sky, the Greil Mercenaries were finished with giving the village a proper grave. Rhys and Mist gave their last prayers to the village before meeting back with the Greil Mercenaries.

"Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come here..." Tempest couldn't help but muttering to himself.

"There were no rabbits in this area..." Periwinkle added. "It was not worth the trip."

"I'm glad you care about the lives of others."

Periwinkle said nothing as Ike, Titania and Soren approached them.

"So your people were not in this area?" The leader of the Greil Mercenaries asked. He wasn't as affected by the destruction of the village like the others but it still pained him that the people he could have saved were burned alive.

Tempest shook his head. "I could have sworn they would be here but..." the black rabbit sighed. "My power to sense my tribe is weakening..."

"Without being able to sense the others, we are back to square one..." Periwinkle concluded, "and that would mean we would have to go back into hiding..."

"It's already too late for that." Ike told them. "I think whoever is trying to kill your tribe knows of your existence."

"Besides our tribe, you guys seem to have attracted their attention." Tempest verbalized. "I wouldn't be surprised if someone was sent to attack you again."

"That would be troublesome." Soren told the commander. "We do not need to bring attention to ourselves."

"It's too late for that Soren." Ike repeated. "The minute we decided to help them, the minute these people marked us as their enemies..."

"Actually, it was the minute that you allowed Shinon to take that rabbit into our hands that you made more enemies." Soren corrected.

"Ike wouldn't know about the consequences until afterwards." Titania explained.

"Speaking of Shinon, where is he?"

"I believe I assigned him to help Oscar with burying the bodies, why?"

Ike noted that Tempest and Periwinkle had their ears up in the air. Something was approaching them and they needed to be prepared for battle.

"Titania, get everyone together." Ike ordered.

Tempest nodded his head. "I sense their army coming again...and there are a bunch of them this time."

Titania did not hesitate to go back to the village and round everyone up. Soren turned to Ike in worry. Something told the wind sage that the battle would not go smoothly like yesterday.

* * *

Leo yawned as his army marched in an orderly fashion to the Village of the Angels. Tenderheart was very useful because of his ears. He could somehow detect the other rabbits that the Greil Mercenaries had in their possession especially Tempest who was traveling with them.

They stopped in front of the village eventually and found that there was nothing there. The village was burned to the ground.

"I never thought Sloth had it in her to take the village down with her..." Leo spoke as he turned to his army. "All right before we pursue the Greil Mercenaries, I must ask, does anyone want to back out now?"

Tenderheart was confused. "What?"

"The Greil Mercenaries might take your life. Who wants to go back to the Society of Requiem?"

There was a long pause. Leo was hoping no one would raise their hand. He cursed to himself when one of his men raised his hand. Slowly, he pointed his finger toward the soldier that raised his hand in a gun stance and mumbled. "Bang."

The guy was soon on fire shortly after. He screamed for his commander to put it out but no prevail and soon his body was pitch black and was on the ground unmoving.

"Anyone else?"

Someone else raised their hand and they soon met the same fate as the first. Leo was getting annoyed by these cowards.

"Anyone else?"

A third hand was raised and Leo burned his body as well. The other soldiers stares at their commander dumbfounded.

"Who else wants to get burned alive?" Leo asked his army as he was at his breaking point because of their stupidity. "Just so you know, we are not pussies! We have valor and we will not let a band of sellswords beat us."

"Really?" His second in command questioned. "I was thinking of raising my hand as well."

Leo grinned. "As long as you follow my strategy, I'll get us out of this alive."

"But your strategy gets us killed..."

Tenderheart opened his ears listening for their target. He discerned them and warned Leo about it.

"Ambushes do not work against the great Leo! Member number seven of the Society of Requiem and the best flame user out there! You will burn to my flames!"

While he was ranting on about his long title that he gave to himself a few minutes ago, the Greil Mercenaries were all into hiding not far from where Leo was. His booming voice was grating to some members (mainly Soren and Shinon though).

"He sure is full of himself..." Tempest joked.

"I agree..." Soren mumbled for once agreeing to the black rabbit.

"So umm...give us the rabbits and... the one they listen to and we'll be on our way!"

Like the Greil Mercenaries were going to reply to him and give their hiding spot away. Because of that, Leo took out another Molotov and aimed it in the direction where the Greil Mercenaries were. There wasn't that much power in this one, so the person that gets hit by this will have his or her hair on fire at the very least.

"Fire in the hole!" Leo announced as he threw the Molotov.

There was a pause as the firearm was thrown in their direction. Something did catch on fire.

"HOT HOT!"

That was Boyd. The Molotov bounced off of Gatrie's armor and behind Boyd. His ass caught on fire and he ended up giving them away trying to get it out. Leo being Leo just stood there and laughed at the scene. Once Boyd got the flames out...

"You jackass! You're going to pay for that!"

Oscar and Mist's sigh could be heard behind the trees as the Greil Mercenaries made their appearance.

"Told you to stand in front of Rolf..." Oscar warned him.

Boyd got his Killer Axe out ready to kill. Leo grinned when he found his targets.

"I guess you aren't going down without a fight. That's just fine by me. Now, my army, get in position!"

The Greil Mercenaries were in the middle of the battlefield and the soldiers were surrounded them on three of the sides.

"Don't worry, I can handle this," Tempest told Ike as he transformed into his Laguz form.

"I sure hope so. Everyone, keep your distance."

Leo knew his strategy was going to work against the Greil Mercenaries. He just needed to bide his time until it was time to strike with his secret.

Boyd was the one killing most of the soldiers. The burn mark on his butt was just a sign of his wrath as he hacked the soldiers down one by one. Mia got a kick out of some but she stayed away from Boyd so she wouldn't have an arm chopped off because he was in berserk mode. Ike, Soren, Titania, and Oscar were clearing out the enemies to the left. Tempest, Periwinkle and Shima got the ones in front of them and everyone else got the right. Mist had to heal Boyd often because he was being too reckless for his own good.

Gatrie noticed that Shinon was not focusing during battle. He wasn't hitting his targets with great accuracy and he wasn't dodging the easy spears thrown at him.

"Shinon, are you okay?" Gatrie asked his partner as he defeated the soldier that was attacking him.

"I'm fine, why?"

"You're leaving yourself wide open Shinon. Be careful."

"Sorry..."

Gatrie frowned. Shinon was acting anything but normal...

"Leo, let me in the battle!" Tenderheart shouted.

"Wait a second. If you go now, then I might-"

Too late. Tenderheart already flew onto the battlefield. Gem noticed him and gasped.

"You're...like me..."

"And you're a murderer!"

"What?"

"I can't believe someone like you killed my grandma, but I will show you no mercy!"

Gem found himself fighting Tenderheart one on one. He was having a hard time dealing with him though because the fire spells the red rabbit cast. Each attack was stronger than the rest. Was this his weakness or was he too weak?

"Tch...if you waited, then you might not be a target but..." Leo held his hand out and closed his eyes. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine! Come to me my fine dragons of blazing flames!" Flames wrapped around his arm as he continued reciting. "Number seven, hear my calls, and fire your flaming laser at my targets!"

Shinon could feel an attack coming but it was already too late. Leo held out both hands in front of him and fired a fire beam at Gem and Tenderheart.

"Watch out!" Gem shouted as he jumped in front of Tenderheart hoping to shield him from the flames but the fire beam just sent them both flying into a tree. The yellow rabbit could feel the burn coming from that all powerful attack.

 _Shit, he was in the way..._ Leo mumbled to himself. He felt something change inside of him. "Hey, what do you dragons think you're doing? You can't just act on your own!"

The dragons had a will of their own. They released another fire beam at Tempest, Periwinkle and Shima. Tempest was able to fly out of the way taking Shima with him but Periwinkle was not so lucky. She was hit dead on and was sent soaring into Gem and Tenderheart who took another blow from the flames.

"Periwinkle!" Tempest called out.

"Tempest, move out of the way!" Shima tried to warn but he received the warning when the fire beam glazed him in the wings. He crashed to the ground but managed to give Shima a soft landing. He turned back into his normal form.

Things went from hell after that. Leo lost control of his dragons and they were just firing flames from his hands in any random direction given. They did not care if they burned his fellow comrades or their designated targets.

Rhys and Mist put up a ward barrier around them and Boyd, Mia, Rolf, Shinon and Gatrie found themselves hiding behind their barrier. Soren too put up a ward barrier with his ward stave for Ike, Titania and Oscar to stay behind.

"Damn, what type of spell is that?" Ike questioned Soren who was trying to concentrate on the defensive shield.

"I don't know."

That was probably a first time Ike heard that from Soren. This fire spell must be extremely powerful because everything around them was burning.

Shinon glanced at the rabbit tribe members. Shima manage to drag Tempest close to the tree where the other rabbits were and also put up a ward barrier. She was not as strong as Soren, Rhys or Mist though as the barrier broke often and she found herself putting it up every other minute.

 _At this rate, they're all going to die._  Shinon thought to himself. He shouldn't be caring about the safety of Laguz but...  _I don't care about the majority of them but Gem can't..._

Gem slowly stood up trying to battle the pain that was rampart through his body.

"Gem, you can no longer battle!" Shima reminded. "If you get out of my barrier, you'll die."

"Shima, we can't let him get his way in battle..." the yellow rabbit mumbled as he erased the pain from his mind allowing him to stand up tall. "I'll distract him and that will allow Tempest to get him..."

"Tempest is injured!"

"I see where you're getting at kid, but I don't think I can..." Tempest glared at his wings. They were burned pretty badly from just one hit. He couldn't travel long distances to complete Gem's plan.

"We have to try."

Gem had a resolve to win the battle with minor casualties. He spread his ears apart as he flew out of the barrier despite Shima's protests. Dragon number seven locked onto the lightning rabbit and fired another flare beam at him. Gem saw it coming and flew out of the way to evade it. He glanced at Leo who was trying his best to get his dragons in control again.

 _Now what was I thinking when I used that lightning spell?_  Gem asked himself as he flew over another fire beam.  _Oh yeah! I was thinking about food that time but that's not going to help this time. I want to defeat this man for hurting my friends and lying to someone of my own kind. So..._

Gem opened his mouth to start chanting a lightning spell but the lightning came out of his mouth. The lightning beam hit Leo dead on and Gem flew back a little dazed.  _I did not mean to do that. The attack will be more powerful if I release it from the palm of my hands so..._

The yellow rabbit smiled when he felt lightning generating into the palm of both of his hands. He aimed his hands at Leo and fired. The seventh dragon readied another fire beam and fired it at the lightning beam. Gem felt the impact and strived to beat the attack. The trinity of spells did not favor him despite lightning beating fire. The dragon prevailed in his attack and made a direct hit on the lightning rabbit. Gem found himself losing his awareness as his eyes were slowly closing.

 _Damn, I couldn't protect Shinon again._  Gem thought to himself as he closed his eyes. He needed to rest.

To everyone else, it looked like the yellow rabbit died as he crashed into the soil of the ground with a hard thud, head first.

"Gem!" Shima cried out as another fire attack hit her barrier shattering it for the seventh time.

Shinon felt his heart pounding. He didn't know if the kid fainted or not but unless he got out of the barrier and checked...

"Shinon, what are you-"

Gatrie ended up yelling at Shinon when he ran out of the barrier to check up on Gem, but when the marshall tried to get out, another attack collided with the barrier and it broke. Rhys quickly put it back up but Mist was debating whether to go out and help Shinon or stay with Rhys and the others.

"Master Shinon, what are you doing? Come back!" Rolf called out.

"Don't be an idiot Shinon!"

The marksmen had to admit that he was being idiotic recently but Gem was his top priority. The attacks always barely hit him but at this point, Leo was trying his very best to make sure dragon number seven would not hit his assigned target.

"You stupid dragon!" He cursed. "If our target is killed, then Tenou will have my head! Do you want to end your life so soon because you know if I die then no one will be able to summon you again?"

_**I don't care.** _

"What?"

_**You are doing the wrong thing Leo. If the target is killed, Tenou's dream won't be realized and Tellius will be safe. He must die!  
** _

"No, stop it!"

Shinon managed to get to Gem. Feeling his pulse, the redhead was relieved that the yellow rabbit was still alive, but barely.

"Don't scare me like that Gem..." Shinon mumbled. It was unheard by all.

"Master Shinon, look out!"

The seventh dragon did not listen to his master's owner and attacked Shinon with a full frontal attack. Leo knew that if this attack collided, he would fail his mission.

The attack was too fast for Shinon to dodge and would be too powerful for him to withstand.

 _I guess this is it._  Shinon thought to himself.  _What a terrible way to die..._

Shinon was ready to embrace death with open arms despite his friends calling out to him yelling at him to move out of the fucking way. Shinon heard Gatrie begging him to move and frowned.

_Dammit Gatrie. I wanted to die alone knowing that no one cared about me, but when you do this...I..._

Shinon closed his eyes taking Gem into his arms shielding him from the attack. He waited for his body to turn to ash but nothing happened. Slowly, he opened one eye only to open the other when he saw white wings in front of him. Shinon thought his savior was a heron because of the long blonde hair and similar white clothing (but it had some red to it) but the white ears gave it away that it was a rabbit. A white rabbit to be exact.

The white rabbit was indeed an angel of life. The Laguz was able to stop the all powerful attack and send it right back at its owner. The appearance of the white rabbit made the dragons completely obedient to Leo who was able to cancel the attack before it came in contact with him. Any area that was burning was restored to its rightful beauty and the soldiers that were slaughtered by the Greil Mercenaries were brought back to life. The burn marks on Gem's body slowly disappeared and his pale skin went back to its original color.

Tempest gasped when he saw the figure that was bringing this miracle. "Saya..."

Shinon felt his body was on fire though nonetheless. The white rabbit turned his way and the marksmen saw that the Laguz was a female.

_**Please stop Tenou from bringing destruction to Tellius. You are the one that can bring the Rabbit tribe together. Please take care of my own kind. I have made life difficult for you now that I made my appearance but please don't lose hope...** _

Shinon felt this pain before and shook his head.  _No, I got rid of that other me years ago. Don't let it come back!  
_

_**I'm sorry but you must embrace your other self to defeat Tenou and the Society of Requiem and this time, you can deal the final blow.** _

Tempest stood up. He called out to the white rabbit. She smiled faintly to the black rabbit and said something in the ancient tongue to him before she disappeared in a ray of light. When she disappeared, Shinon collapsed to the ground. Gatrie was the first person to rush toward him with Rolf not too far behind.

Leo glanced at the scene and frowned.  _I guess I failed my mission but I got something else in return._  "Men, we are retreating! The white rabbit has given you a second life and that life will not be wasted here!"

With that said, they all disappeared in the flames.

"What...just happened?" Ike asked Tempest whose wings were no longer burned.

"So it was him after all..." Tempest muttered as he glanced at the marksmen _. If he is the one who will help find my tribe then the other who I will fall in love with is...nearby..._

"Did you not hear what I said?"

"I did and that girl has just given me an important message."

"And that is?"

"The one who is trying to kill my tribe has become conquering the nations of Tellius. She told me that Daein is now in his hands and that Gallia will be attacked tonight..."

* * *

Leo collapsed to the ground as soon as he made it to the throne room where the twenty three members assembled. The dragons wore him out and he did not want to go into battle for a while after what happened to his men.

"Where is my prize?" Tenou asked quite annoyed that Leo looked like he fled for his life unlike Sloth.

"The coward fled for his life. Pathetic!" Gustav answered with an evil laugh.

That earned a glare from Leo, Glacia, Aussa, Nemi, the teen sorcerers, Shigeru and even Frank and Nakahito. Gustav turned to see the disproving faces of half the members and backed off.

"I did not run for my life. An unexpected visitor came into battle Tenou," Leo began as he stood up tall.

"Who was this visitor?"

"The white rabbit, Saya."

That earned a gasped from most of the members. Even Atsuki and Nakahito were surprised.

"That's nonsense!" Gustav announced. "Why would Saya appear in front of a loser like you?"

"Silence!" Tenou spat at the tenth position causing him to zip his mouth. "Continue."

"I had the Greil Mercenaries beat with my nine fire dragons," Leo began. "I lost control of the seventh one though and I almost killed our target...but when that old dragon attacked, she appeared to protect him. She restored everything to what it was before I engaged in combat with them. She then gave some power to our target and then disappeared." Leo frowned. "I think she gave information about our planning attack on Gallia."

Tenou was impressed that while Leo failed his mission, he gave him some valuable information and forced Saya out into the open.

"T-This isn't good!" Nemi declared. "If they know about Gallia, then a civil war won't happen!"

Kizuna growled. All of his hard work might go to waste if they warn Skrimir about the attack on the beast tribe.

"That won't happen." Atsuki said firmly.

"But..."

Everyone turned to the blonde Trueblade. "We might have a change of plan but there will still be a rift between the beast tribe."

"What are you planning Atsuki?" Glacia asked.

"Kizuna will start the attack as we planned." Atsuki started. "Greed, when the Greil Mercenaries come in close, you will launch a surprise attack against them."

"Wouldn't that-"

"If our target is killed during the ambush matters not because the rabbit tribe will now be defending him with their lives. Your goal is to make sure that they do not get to King Skrimir. Ru-Ru and Tu-Tu, you two will sing. Your song is similar to a Laguz drug and will cause problems for the king's strongest followers. Envy, you will kidnap one of the weak cat Laguz and we will use him or her as a hostage for King Skrimir to fulfill our demands."

"And our demand is for Gallia!" Gluttony announced.

"No." Atsuki said sternly. "I will challenge Skrimir to a duel. One on one, Beorc versus Laguz. If he wins, then our mission will fail and we will not attack Gallia again. If I win, Gallia belongs to Tenou."

"That's too risky!" Gustav admitted. "If you lose because of your code of honor then we will not be able to do as we please!"

"He won't lose!" Shibuya shouted. "Atsuki is the best swordsmen out there! There is no one alive that can beat him!"

"Shibuya..." Wolf muttered.

Atsuki was quite surprised that passive Shibuya was the one who assured that their mission would be a success.

"Tch, you're just a stupid kid and yet you order me around?"

"I'm older than all of you combined so you better shut up!" Shibuya announced.

"Immortality does not count," Mamoru added.

"And I am not immortal!"

Gustav whispered a stream of curse words about the double black teen before keeping quiet for the third time.

"Nemi, you will assist Greed?" Atsuki questioned.

"W-What? Why me?"

"You will not need to engage in battle with the Greil Mercenaries." Atsuki said. "You just have to heal adjacent units and keep track of the time. I will not have you getting killed in this diversion which is why Greed's men will be the one being used."

"First you higher ups kill Sloth and her army and now it's me and my army?"

"Greed, Nemi is inexperienced in commanding soldiers," Atsuki reminded the man calmly. "He is our tactician. He is the one who gives us updates on what is going on in Tellius. He is our spy. We cannot afford to lose him or his army of spies."

"But I have assassins and thieves!"

"Set a trap. A barricade of knives for the trap is good. Now are you going to protest after giving you a good explanation or are you going to continue to insist that we send Nemi as the distraction and lose one of our strongest links."

Greed said nothing as he stepped down. Nakahito started to cackle. "Greed, you and Sloth are the weakest link. We don't care if we lose you or her."

That was it for Greed. He took his knife out and rushed toward the scientist. "You bastard!"

Greed did not expect to be hit by a powerful wind spell from his son. He was sent back into a pillar.

"Gauh!"

"I will not let you harm my father!" Nemi announced as he put his wind tome away and turned to dad. "Father, please wish me luck."

"Of course. I love you my precious son. I can't have you dying now can I?"

Aussa couldn't help but worry for the youngest member.

"Atsuki, you, Nemi and Mamoru have come up with good plans so far," Tenou praised, "And Leo, although you failed your mission, I will let you off the hook for getting that white rabbit out into the open. I dismiss you all and I expect results at the end of this."

Each member slowly left but Glacia saw the evil look that Greed was giving to Nakahito before leaving. Once everyone was gone, Yoko turned to face Tenou. "Tenou, I-"

"Not now Yoko. I just got my anal beads from Nakahito. I got to test it out."

 _That's what I'm talking about..._ The wind sorcerer thought to himself.

* * *

Yoko found himself following Tenou to his chambers. He stopped when Tenou went into his room and locked it behind him.

"Sneaking around to hear some moaning and groaning I see."

Yoko jumped back to see Nakahito behind him. "N-Nakahito..."

"I get aroused from this stuff too, so don't mind me being here."

Yoko frowned when he said that. No way could he ask now.

In the room, Tenou was enjoying himself. It's been two whole days in Society of Requiem while it was only the afternoon of day one on the continent of Tellius. Since time moved faster in the Society of Requiem, Tenou was glad to have his pet around longer than Micaiah expected him to.

He tied Sothe's wrists behind his back and had him on his stomach. The green haired teen still resisted him but Tenou didn't mind the defiance. Once Tenou decided to use something else for Sothe's hole, things would change.

"You're going to love this new toy." Tenou whispered in Sothe's ears as he slowly inserted the anal beads into his hole. Sothe gasped when only one ball was inserted in but as he pushed another one in a sensation of pain and pleasured engulfed him.

 _No, I'm not enjoying this!_  Sothe told himself as he tried his best not to open his mouth.

As the sixth ball was inserted into his hole, the zephyr thought his insides were breaking and started squirming.

"You like this don't you?" Tenou asked. "These are called anal beads. You get more pleasure when it's taken out of you more than when it goes in."

"Take it out..." Sothe pleaded as if he didn't hear that last part.

"Really? I want to see how many of these beads I can fit into you first."

The anal beads had ten of them and to Tenou's joy, all of the balls fit into the hole. "You are a whore if this whole thing can fit into you. Eventually, my entire dick will be be able to fit inside of you with no complications."

Sothe was really losing it. His mind was not working properly and all he was thinking about was for that thing to be taken out of him before he would be asking for more.

"Please...take it out..."

Tenou smirked. "Oh? How come I don't hear a Master at the end of that?"

"You got...to be kidding..."

"I won't move it out unless you say, "Please Master Tenou! Take these beads from my dirty hole out and insert your manly dick in it instead!" No begging, no can do."

Sothe said nothing. No way would he say something so humiliating.

"I'm waiting."

Sothe's pride was stronger than his wants so he refused to say those commands. Tenou shrugged as he let go of the string that connected to the tenth bead and started to grope his rear. The sensation was coming back and Sothe let out a small moan to Tenou's delight.

"You can also admit that you like this and I'll take these out." Tenou offered.

This was the easier of the two but Sothe wouldn't comply. His body was failing him though. Those cold hands trailed away from his ass to his cock. He began stroking it at a swift rate that the zephyr found himself losing this battle against him and his body's desires.

"Oh, you're already hard." The God teased.

"Please...Master Tenou..." Sothe began. His mind was screaming for him to not say those words but he couldn't take this pleasure anymore. "Take these beads...from my dirty...hole...out and insert your...manly...dick...in it instead..."

Tenou smiled in triumph. He took his hands away from the teen's manhood and pulled out the anal beads all at once. The pleasurable sensation that Tenou warned him about shot through his entire body. Sothe couldn't hold it anymore and let out a pleasurable sigh of delight. Tenou quickly inserted his length in the hole and began thrusting. Unlike the first time, it hurt much less and it sent the whisper into a world of contentment. Yet, when it was over, Sothe would consider himself betraying Micaiah for his selfish desires and this man was to blame.

Tenou planted his seed inside of his pet again before taking his cock out. He turned to the door and shouted. "Nakahito, I know you're a pedophile and you may be my left handed man but please step away from the door! I need my privacy! And take that kid too!"

"As you wish Tenou!"

"But I still got a question!" Yoko announced.

"You have a bulge so let's get out of here before I tell Mamoru."

"N-No! I have to use the bathroom!"

Nakahito took the wind sorcerer away from the door. Tenou waited until they were gone before he flipped Sothe over on his back and kissed him passionately.

"You will learn to love me my pet." Tenou told him. "And your queen will never love you the way I do..."

It had only been two days but Sothe was slowly starting to doubt Micaiah and give in to the feeling that his body wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: TBC with 9511 words. Here's the run through.
> 
> Chapter 3: White Light
> 
> Victory: Survive for eight turns (six turns on easy)
> 
> Defeat: Any player unit dies
> 
> Player Units: 13 (Ike, Titania, Oscar, Soren, Mia, Mist, Rhys, Shinon, Rolf, Gatrie, Boyd, Gem and Shima)
> 
> Partner Units: 2 (Tempest and Periwinkle)
> 
> Enemy Units: 50 units (50 on easy)
> 
> Reinforcements: None
> 
> Items: Heavy Spear (dropped)
> 
> Well, Leo certainly went overkill this time around. He's got 50 soldiers and most of them have killer weapons and weapons that work on horses, Laguz and generals. How will you handle this?
> 
> Luckily for you, Boyd is in berserk mode so he won't need healing and Tempest and Periwinkle can be commanded by Shinon (although they won't say that until the next battle).
> 
> Have Tempest and Periwinkle clear the enemies above you. Ike, Soren, Titania and Oscar should clear the enemies to the left and Boyd, Mia, Gatrie and Shinon should go to the right. Keep Gem and Rolf at the starting point to protect your healers.
> 
> You notice that Leo is counting down? You can't defeat Leo in this chapter so don't bother running up to him. He's preparing for an attack and after the eight turn he will unleash it ending the battle.
> 
> On turn six, Tenderheart will leave his position and attack Gem. If your healers are next to him, Gem will be fine. DO NOT kill Tenderheart because after the battle, he will join your party.
> 
> It's to be noted that the soldiers tend to attack Shinon more often than not whenever they have the chance, so have Gatrie next to him to make sure that the marksmen won't be overpowered.
> 
> An updated list of the villains...
> 
> 1\. Tenou a God (Think of Ashera from RG Veda and Tsubasa Chronicles)
> 
> 2\. Atsuki a Trueblade (Think of Nakago from Fushigi Yugi)
> 
> 3\. Nakahito (Think of Nagi Springfield from Negima)
> 
> 4\. Kizuna a Tiger Laguz (think of Kaga from Hikaru No Go)
> 
> 5\. Nemi an Archsage (Think of Negi from Negima)
> 
> 6\. Frank (Think of Frankenstein)
> 
> 7\. Leo a Fire Sorcerer (Think of Recca from Flame of Recca)
> 
> 8\. Glacia an Ice Sorcerer (Think of Tokiya from Flame of Recca)
> 
> 9\. Aussa a Reaver (Think of Asuna from Negima)
> 
> 10\. Gustav (Think of Oliver only with pale skin)
> 
> 11\. Shigeru (Think of Kiyomaro from Konjiki No Gash Bell)
> 
> 12\. Mamoru a Dark Sorcerer (Think of Hao from Shaman King)
> 
> 13\. Yoko a Wind Sorcerer (Think of Yoh from Shaman King)
> 
> Wolf a Fire/Light Sorcerer (Think of Wolfram from Kyo Kara Maou)
> 
> 15\. Shibuya a Thunder/Water Sorcerer (Think of Yuri from Kyo Kara Maou)
> 
> 16\. Pride a Dark Sorcerer (Think of an older version of Decus from Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World)
> 
> 17\. Lust (Think of an older version of Alice only with black hair from Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World)
> 
> 18\. Greed an Assassin (Think of Tomo from Fushigi Yugi)
> 
> 19\. Unnamed male member
> 
> 20\. Ru-Ru a Songstress (Think of She-She from Mermaid Melody)
> 
> 21\. Tu-Tu a Songstress (Think of Mi-Mi from Mermaid Melody)
> 
> 22\. Gluttony (Think of Road from D Gray Man)
> 
> 23\. Envy (Unknown appearance)
> 
> 24\. Sloth a Sentinel (Think of Hotaru from Sailor Moon) DEAD
> 
> That's it. Reviews are appreciated. Ja ne!
> 
> You know, re-reading this chapter, I realized how much a psychopath Leo is. I tried to make him funny but what he does is kind of cruel. I'm not going to forget that he killed an old lady and lied to a child about it, but shooting his own men was suppose to be funny...and it still is, but just not his pryo maniac side...


End file.
